​​The Value of Rotations - Lessons Learned Corn-Cotton Rotations and the Mississippi Centennial Rotation

January 2018 | 38 min., 25 sec.
by M. Wayne Ebelhar
Mississippi State University

Summary

This presentation focuses on research in the Mississippi Delta that illustrates the advantages of crop rotation with cotton and how yields can be increased over a long period without increasing inputs. Although yields of cotton following corn are 9–20% higher than yields of continuous cotton, producers see problems in some years as environmental conditions such as rainfall negatively impact good cotton growth. While the research has been conducted in the U.S. Mid-South, the implications reach across the Cotton Belt. The presentation also summarizes the first 12 years of the Centennial Rotation (established in 2004), which continues to provide valuable information on multicrop rotation sequences, including cotton, corn, and soybean. Long-term research is valuable in understanding the overall impact of crop rotation. The advantages outweigh the disadvantages, but environmental extremes can change even the best intentions in crop rotations. One of the strong points in support of research underway at Stoneville, Mississippi, is replication and the fact that every crop in a rotation sequence is grown each year. Thus, shifts in market prices, which can vary depending on the year, can be evaluated in the economic analysis.​

About the Presenter

M. Wayne EbelharM. Wayne Ebelhar graduated from the University of Kentucky with BS (1974) and MS (1977) degrees in Agriculture. He received a PhD in Agriculture-Agronomy (1981) from the University of Illinois and then accepted a research position with Mississippi State University at the Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville. He began his career in November 1980 with early research emphases on cotton and rice fertility. Over the years, he has worked on most of the row crops in the Mississippi Delta and on oilseed crops. His extensive research program has addressed nutrient management—primarily, nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, sulfur, and zinc. In the mid-1990, his research focused on spatial variability and the relationship between soil nutrients and other soil characteristics and yield. This led to a shift to evaluating crop rotations, particularly cotton and corn. The Delta Branch Experiment Station (now the Delta Research and Extension Center) reached a milestone in 2004 when it celebrated its 100-year anniversary. The same year, the Centennial Rotation was established as a multiyear crop rotation field with cotton–corn–soybean systems. Dr. Ebelhar’s primary interests are crop yield, nutrient uptake and removal, and the economic implications of rotations. He has spent his entire research career at the Delta Research and Extension Center at Stoneville in soil fertility/crop production.​

Contact Information:
Email: webelhar@drec.msstate.edu

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