Break crop benefits in temperate wheat production

Changes in the sequence of crops grown on agricultural land are well known to enhance the yield of grain crops such as wheat. A survey of the literature gathered from around the world show mean yield benefits of up to 20% or more. Much is known about the principal mechanisms responsible for these benefits, including effects on disease control, improved nitrogen nutrition and water supply, although researchers continue to be challenged by inexplicable “rotation effects” that have yet to be documented or fully understood. This review summarizes our current understanding of the ‘better-known’ mechanisms of crop rotation, and discusses other mechanisms (e.g. changes in rhizosphere biology, allelopathy or soil structure) that may help to account fully for the rotation benefits that have been observed by agricultural producers for more than 2000 years. Where possible we emphasise new techniques employed to investigate these less well-understood aspects of the “rotation effect”. At the farm level, the inability to capitalize on the benefits of break crops may owe more to economics, the availability of suitable break crops and the complexity of the crop response. Computer-based decision support tools have been developed to assist growers to apply the information gathered from scientific studies, although efforts to integrate this information at whole-farm scales are embryonic.