Erosion TTool/Crop Rotation Diversification

Technical articles - Erosion TTool - Érosion des sols

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Illustration of the practice of crop rotation diversification within the serious game Erosion TTOOL. Credit: Delphine Hombrouckx

This involves evolving the crop rotation by integrating one or more cash crops that will have agroecological benefits.

Description

Advantages

• Increased return of organic matter to the soil.
• Increased water infiltration (depending on the crop).
• Improved soil structure.

Disadvantages

• Depends on the profitability of the crop.

Advice

• Different crops and their sensitivity to erosion :

Sensitivity to erosion	Crop
Very low	Grassland
Low	Barley winter, wheat winter, rapeseed, rye winter, oats
Medium	Spring cereals, peas
High	Maize, sorghum, sunflower, potatoes, soybean, tobacco, market gardening vegetables

• If the slope is not too long: possibility to alternate between erosion-sensitive and less sensitive crops.
• Possibility to plant a crop tolerant to excess water (however, be cautious when growing drought-tolerant plants in erosion-prone hillsides).
• It is recommended to favor winter cereals over spring crops to maximize the duration of soil cover.
• The best choice to maximize soil cover is the integration of grassland / fallow in the Crop rotations.
• It is possible to introduce species complementary in root systems.
• Winter cereals:
  • It is preferable to do an early sowing (early October) so that soil cover rate is > 30% at the start of winter. However, be careful of late frosts (March) which can affect overly developed cereals.
  • Risk period in autumn/early winter: it is recommended to perform a shallow stubble cultivation of previous harvests, crusting at the end of winter with a rotary hoe to break the crust of surface sealing, shallow stubble cultivation as soon as possible after harvest.

• Maize and sunflower:
  • Risk period in spring: soil cover during intercrop, no-till farming or strip-till, hoeing between rows as soon as a crust of surface sealing forms, sow ryegrass in maize (8-10 leaf stage), shallow stubble cultivation.

• Rapeseed:
  • Risk period: late summer / early autumn.
  • Good soil cover in autumn / winter / spring.
  • Shallow stubble cultivation as soon as possible after harvest with a tine tool and not a disc to avoid too fine stubble cultivation.