Crop rotation

Question 1 Define crop rotation?

Question 2 What are leguminous crops?

Question 3 Give example of leguminous crops?

Question 4 Name nitrogen fixing bacteria?

Question 5 What are the advantages of crop rotation?

Question 6 Which crop is generally grown between two cereal crop in crop rotation to restore the fertility of soil?

Crop rotation

The pulses,peas,beans,groundnut,gram etc are leguminous crops.

The root nodules of leguminous plants have nitrogen fixing bacteria(called Rhizobium)which can directly convert atmospheric nitrogen into nitrogen compounds.These nitrogen compounds go into the soil and improves the fertility.

The practice in which different types of crops are grown alternately in the same field or soil is called crop rotation.

In crop rotation cereal crops like wheat, maize,paddy, millet are grown alternately with leguminous crops like pulses,peas,beans,groundnut,clover in the same field.

Advantages

1)It improves the fertility of the soil by replenishing it with nitrogen and hence increases production of food grains.

2)It saves lots of nitrogenous fertilisers.