Agro-economic viability of crop rotation and soil management in sprinkler irrigated areas.

Crop rotation is an essential requirement in no-tillage systems (NTS); however, the economic viability of this system, especially in irrigated agricultural areas, is still questionable. In this study, we aimed to determine the effect of crop rotation and soil management in the grain yield of corn and common beans and the economic performance of this system. We used a randomized block experimental design in split plots with six replications. The treatments consisted of three soil managements (main plots): M 1 = NTS in the summer followed by plowing and disking after one year in the winter, M 2 = NTS followed by plowing and disking after two years in the winter, M 3 = continuous NTS; and three crop rotations (subplot): R 1 = corn/common beans/corn/common beans, R 2 = pearl millet/common beans/corn/common beans, and R 3 = soybean/common beans/corn/common beans). At the end of crop rotation, the same crop rotations are repeated in the same area, that is, two cycles of rotation. NTS provided the lowest grain yield for corn and common beans; Pearl millet provided the highest grain yield of common beans in NTS; all crop rotations tested resulted in positive economic performance, that is, they were economically viable. Among the options tested, crop rotation of pearl millet/common beans/corn/common beans in NTS provided the highest economic performance. Viabilidade agroeconomica de rotacao de culturas e manejo do solo em areas irrigadas por aspersao Agro-economic viability of crop rotation and soil management in sprinkler irrigated areas Adriano Stephan Nascente1* Pedro Marques da Silveira1 Alcido Elenor Wander1 11Embrapa Arroz e Feijao, Rod. GO-462, km 12, Zona Rural, CP 179, 75375-000, Santo Antonio de Goias, GO, Brasil Autor Correspondente: *E-mail: adriano.nascente@embrapa.br PALAVRAS-CHAVE Agricultura sustentavel Glycine Max Pennisetum glaucum Phaseolus vulgaris Viabilidade economica Zea mays