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Lesson Nine Cropping Systems

Cropping systems involve the species and sequence of crops grown and practices used. Traditional systems focused on maximizing yields but there is now a need to consider the environment. Cropping, tillage, nutrient/water management, and erosion control practices can be used. Planting arrangements like strip cropping and cover cropping can reduce plant stress by meeting different plant requirements and removing different nutrients. Choice of sowing dates can reduce stress by getting the best environmental conditions and avoiding pathogens. Remote sensing technology can detect environmental stresses limiting growth and compare data to expected crop performance for agricultural decision making.

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47 views2 pages

Lesson Nine Cropping Systems

Cropping systems involve the species and sequence of crops grown and practices used. Traditional systems focused on maximizing yields but there is now a need to consider the environment. Cropping, tillage, nutrient/water management, and erosion control practices can be used. Planting arrangements like strip cropping and cover cropping can reduce plant stress by meeting different plant requirements and removing different nutrients. Choice of sowing dates can reduce stress by getting the best environmental conditions and avoiding pathogens. Remote sensing technology can detect environmental stresses limiting growth and compare data to expected crop performance for agricultural decision making.

Uploaded by

Jay Jay
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lesson nine

Cropping systems

A cropping system is the species and sequence of crops grown and the practices used for
growing them. Cropping systems traditionally maximized crop yields. However, there is a strong
need to design cropping systems that take the environment into consideration.

Tillage system and Cropping system Nutrient and water Erosion control
residue management management practices
• No-till • Fallow systems • Precision farming • Conservation buffers
• Mulch tillage • Monoculture • Use of amendments • Windbreaks and buffer
• Strip tillage • Strip cropping (e.g.manure,compost) strips
• Residue removal • Multiple cropping • Enhancement of • Terraces and
(full or partial) • Contour strip cropping biological nitrogen engineering
• Residue burning • Crop rotations fixation devices
• Cover crops • Irrigation / drainage • Sediment traps
• Mixed and relay practices
cropping • Water harvesting
• Organic farming

PREVENTING ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS USING SPACING AND PLANTING


ARRANGEMENTS

Plants need enough sunlight and moisture, the right soil conditions and some thinning to ensure
they have space to grow without competition from other plants. When these requirements are
met, the plants grow well without stress. The spacing between plants is determined by the
carrying capacity of the land.

Planting arrangements such as strip cropping, mixed and relay cropping and cover cropping can
all reduce plant stress as the plants have different requirements and remove different nutrients
from the soil. Choice of sowing dates plays a very important role in reducing plant stress.
Sowing dates are selected to get the best environmental conditions, such as humidity,
temperature, rain and sunshine hours, to ensure the seeds germinate and the seedlings grow well.
Sometimes pest population and disease infestation can be changed by altering sowing dates, and
in this way avoiding a pathogen’s preferred environmental conditions.

Abiotic environmental stress


Abiotic stress is the negative impact of non-living factors on crops in an environment. Abiotic
stress factors, or stressors, are naturally occurring factors such as intense sunlight, temperature or
wind that may cause harm to the plants and animals in the area affected.

Reducing the impact of abiotic stress on crops

A plant’s first line of defense against abiotic stress is in its roots. If the soil holding the plant is
healthy and biologically diverse, the plant will have a higher chance of surviving stressful
conditions. The plant responses to stress are dependent on the tissue or organ affected by the
stress.

Biotic environmental stress

Biotic stress occurs as a result of damage done to an organism by other living organisms, such as
bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, beneficial and harmful insects, weeds and cultivated or native
plants.
Reducing the impact of biotic stress on crops

The use of a wide range of plant defenses that protect the plant against microbial pathogens and
herbivorous pests, minimizing the frequency and impact of attack has been engineered.

Cropping system technology

Methods of remote sensing are used to detect the environmental stresses that limit plant growth
and yield. Remote sensing monitors the plant without damaging it in any way. There is
technology that can compare the remotely sensed data with expected crop data. Rapid advances
in computing and position locating technologies (which include remote sensing from ground-,
air- and space-based platforms) can now provide detailed space and time information on how
plants are responding to their local environment. This information can be used for agricultural
decision-making, such as deciding whether a crop needs to be sprayed with an herbicide.

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