Overall, there was a marked transition from arable systems to either specialized livestock or permanent crop systems, involving major declines in the traditional system of dry cereal rotations and sheep grazing.
The influence of legume-cereal rotation was greater than that of cereal-cereal rotation.
Soil C and N accumulation rates and microbial biomass content were generally increased after rotation, with a greater increase in legume-cereal rotation than in cereal-cereal rotation.
The cropping patterns having cereal legume rotation also improved organic soil fertility by 25%, 11.4%, 13%and44%4% increase in total N, MN, MBN and MBC after a 10 day incubation period over the cereal-cereal rotation, respectively, in surface and 4%, 11 %, 10 and 31%and31%ase increaseorresponding microbial paramethes in the sub surfacorresponding
The study suggests that while keeping covered under cereal-legume rotation crops all year round and its treatment with INM that bears 50% N from organic and 50% from inorganic sources are the best management practices for sustained production on degraded alfisol.
In this case, benefits are highest in cereal-dominated rotations [82].
For example when λ = 0.5, 100% of the land can be attributed to either of the following rotations: cereal-break or cereal-cereal-break, since they both fulfil the proportion requirement.
In the cereal-based crop rotation systems, chickpea is used as a rotation crop to break disease cycles, fix atmospheric nitrogen and improve soil fertility.
There has been a shift towards lower shares of cereal species monocultures, grassland rotations and diverse crop rotations, while environmental fallow rotations have increased.
Eight thousand years ago, farmers in the Middle East were already planting legumes, whose roots harbor nitrogen-fixing bacteria, in rotation with cereal crops, such as wheat.
