Productivity of crop rotation measured as energy produced by included plants: a review
2018
Darguza, M., Latvia Univ. of Life Sciences and Technologies, Jelgava (Latvia) | Gaile, Z., Latvia Univ. of Life Sciences and Technologies, Jelgava (Latvia)
The most important reason for growing field crops is food consumption. Only some of the total amounts of field crop species are mostly used for cultivation in the largest part of arable land. These crops ensure high economic income. This is the reason why biological diversity has decreased. Crop rotation is considered to be an instrument of sustainable cropping system and this is confirmed again nowadays. Higher cereal yields have been gained by including oil crops or pulses in the rotation. Each field crop has its own calorific value (MJ kgE-1). Grains/seeds and above-ground biomass may have different calorific values because of their chemical composition. Research results from literature confirm that the average net calorific value of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) and triticale (Triticosecale) grain and straw are ~17 MJ kgE-1, but the net calorific values for oilseed rape (Brassica napus ssp. oleifera) seeds and straw are – 25.70 MJ kgE-1 and 16.37 MJ kgE-1, respectively. Oilseed rape is also known as energy rich crop. It is reported that diversified crop rotations also have greater energetic productivity from above-ground biomass (grain/seed yield and by-products) if compared with crops grown in repeated sowings or in monoculture. Crop rotation in combination with different tillage methods (conventional tillage, reduced or minimum tillage and no-tillage) is the way to improve soil quality, but it is not clear whether the soil treatment method has a significant impact on the overall crop rotational energy productivity.
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