crop-rotation
Crop rotation is an agricultural practice involving the sequential planting of different crop species in the same field across growing seasons rather than continuous monoculture. For plant science, this technique offers a natural lens into plant-soil-microbe interactions, revealing how varying root architectures, nutrient uptake patterns, and biochemical exudates influence soil health and fertility over time. It also provides valuable insight into plant immune responses, as rotating hosts disrupts the life cycles of species-specific pathogens and pests, reducing the evolutionary pressure that drives resistance.
open_in_new WikipediaOpenAlex · 2026-07-04
Cutting fertilizer use by a third and rotating tobacco with maize reshapes the fungal life living in soil, shifting which species dominate and how they function. The combination outperforms either practice alone, nudging soil fungi toward strategies that support nutrient cycling and plant health.
Reduced fertilization combined with tobacco-maize rotation produced a greater shift in fungal community composition than either practice applied alone.
The rotation-plus-reduced-fertilization treatment increased the proportion of fungi associated with nutrient cycling and decreased stress-tolerant, resource-exploitative guilds.
Fungal ecological strategies shifted from competitive/stress-tolerant profiles toward cooperative profiles linked to improved soil function.
