Utilizing Different Crop Rotation Systems for Agricultural and Environmental Sustainability: A Review

Monoculture involves growing the same crop on the same land over at least two crop cycles. Continuous monoculture can increase the population density of pests and pathogens over time, thereby reducing agricultural yields and increasing dependence on chemical inputs. Crop rotation is an agricultural practice that involves systematically and sequentially planting different crops in the same field over multiple growing seasons. This review explores the advantages of crop rotation and its contribution to promoting sustainable farming practices, such as legume integration and cover cropping. It is based on a thematic literature review of peer-reviewed studies published between 1984 and 2025. We found that crop rotation can significantly improve soil structure and organic matter content and enhance nutrient cycling. Furthermore, soil organic carbon increased by up to 18% when legumes were included in rotations compared to monoculture systems in Europe, while also mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, enhancing carbon sequestration, and decreasing nutrient leaching and pesticide runoff. Farmers can adopt several strategies to optimise crop rotation benefits, such as diversification of various crops, legume integration, cultivation of cover crops, and rotational grazing. These practices ensure agricultural sustainability and food security and support climate resilience.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Agronomy

• Publication date

  2025-08-14

• Fields of study

  Not labeled

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.3390/agronomy15081966
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Diversified cropping systems with complementary root growth strategies improve crop adaptation to and remediation of hostile soils

  2024cited by this paper
• Analysis of the Rainfall Pattern and Rainfall Utilization Efficiency during the Growth Period of Paddy Rice

  2024cited by this paper
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from North American soybean production

  2024cited by this paper
• Nexus between climate change, agricultural output, fertilizer use, agriculture soil emissions: Novel implications in the context of environmental management

  2024cited by this paper
• Towards an agroecological approach to crop health: reducing pest incidence through synergies between plant diversity and soil microbial ecology

  2024cited by this paper
• Analyzing shifts in fertilizer use with crop rotation practices in Saskatchewan across distinct periods from 1991–94 to 2016–19

  2024cited by this paper
• Cover crop impacts on nitrogen losses and environmental damage cost

  2024cited by this paper
• The Influence of Cropping Systems and Tillage Intensity on Soil CO2 Exchange Rate

  2024cited by this paper
• Diversifying crop rotation increases food production, reduces net greenhouse gas emissions and improves soil health

  2024influential reference
• Effects of Various Herbicide Types and Doses, Tillage Systems, and Nitrogen Rates on CO2 Emissions from Agricultural Land: A Literature Review

  2024cited by this paper
• Black (Acacia mearnsii) and silver wattle (Acacia dealbata) invasive tree species impact on soil physicochemical properties in South Africa: A systematic literature review

  2024cited by this paper
• Sorghum allelopathy under field conditions may be caused by a combination of allelochemicals

  2024cited by this paper
• Crop Rotation and Diversification in China: Enhancing Sustainable Agriculture and Resilience

  2024cited by this paper
• Managing interspecific competition to enhance productivity through selection of soybean varieties and sowing dates in a cotton-soybean intercropping system

  2024influential reference
• Legumes can increase the yield of subsequent wheat with or without grain harvesting compared to Gramineae crops: A meta-analysis

  2023influential reference
• Cotton-Based Rotation, Intercropping, and Alternate Intercropping Increase Yields by Improving Root–Shoot Relations

  2023cited by this paper
• The Potential of Cover Crops for Weed Management: A Sole Tool or Component of an Integrated Weed Management System?

  2023influential reference
• Cover crops, crop insurance losses, and resilience to extreme weather events

  2023cited by this paper
• The Effect of Farming Management and Crop Rotation Systems on Chlorophyll Content, Dry Matter Translocation, and Grain Quantity and Quality of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Grown in a Semi-Arid Region of Iran

  2023cited by this paper
• Increasing crop rotational diversity can enhance cereal yields

  2023cited by this paper
• Alternate intercropping of cotton and peanut increases productivity by increasing canopy photosynthesis and nutrient uptake under the influence of rhizobacteria

  2023influential reference
• Influences of Large-scale Farming on Carbon Emissions from Cropping: Evidence from China1

  2023cited by this paper
• Leguminous plants significantly increase soil nitrogen cycling across global climates and ecosystem types

  2023cited by this paper
• Effect of Mono Cropping on Soil Health and Fertility Management for Sustainable Agriculture Practices: A Review

  2023influential reference
• Carbon dynamics in agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and removals: a comprehensive review

  2023cited by this paper
• Fostering temporal crop diversification to reduce pesticide use

  2023cited by this paper
• A grass–legume cover crop maintains nitrogen inputs and nitrous oxide fluxes from an organic agroecosystem

  2023cited by this paper
• Economic Trend in Developing Sustainable Agriculture and Organic Farming

  2023cited by this paper
• Governance of soil amendment to enhance suppression to soil-borne plant pathogens from a long-term perspective

  2023cited by this paper
• Sustainable intensification of sorghum-based cropping systems in semi-arid sub-Saharan Africa: The role of improved varieties, mineral fertilizer, and legume integration

  2023cited by this paper
• Mechanisms of Weed Suppression by Cereal Rye Cover Crop: A Review

  2023cited by this paper
• The shift of soil microbial community induced by cropping sequence affect soil properties and crop yield

  2023cited by this paper
• Global systematic review with meta-analysis reveals yield advantage of legume-based rotations and its drivers

  2022cited by this paper
• Crop rotational diversity alters the composition of stabilized soil organic matter compounds in soil physical fractions

  2022cited by this paper
• Biological nitrogen fixation in cereal crops: Progress, strategies, and perspectives

  2022cited by this paper
• Rotations improve the diversity of rhizosphere soil bacterial communities, enzyme activities and tomato yield

  2022cited by this paper
• Symbiotic fungi as biotechnological tools: Methodological challenges and relative benefits in agriculture and forestry

  2022cited by this paper
• Critical review of the impact of cover crops on soil properties

  2022cited by this paper
• Carbon footprint of perennial bioenergy crop production receiving various nitrogen fertilization rates.

  2022cited by this paper
• Current status of pesticide effects on environment, human health and it’s eco-friendly management as bioremediation: A comprehensive review

  2022cited by this paper
• Biophysical Impact of Sunflower Crop Rotation on Agricultural Fields

  2022cited by this paper
• Cover Crops for Sustainable Cropping Systems: A Review

  2022cited by this paper
• Complex crop rotations improve organic nitrogen cycling

  2022cited by this paper
• Integrated decision support for promoting crop rotation based sustainable agricultural management using geoinformatics and stochastic optimization

  2022cited by this paper
• The State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture 2021 – Systems at breaking point

  2022cited by this paper
• Biodiversity, and biotechnological contribution of beneficial soil microbiomes for nutrient cycling, plant growth improvement and nutrient uptake

  2021cited by this paper
• Improvement of Soil Microbial Diversity through Sustainable Agricultural Practices and Its Evaluation by -Omics Approaches: A Perspective for the Environment, Food Quality and Human Safety

  2021cited by this paper
• Yield and soil responses to adding wheat to a corn‐soybean rotation

  2021cited by this paper
• Effects of Crop Rotation on Spring Wheat Yield and Pest Occurrence in Different Tillage Systems: A Multi-Year Experiment in Finnish Growing Conditions

  2021cited by this paper
• Carbon Sequestration to Avoid Soil Degradation: A Review on the Role of Conservation Tillage

  2021cited by this paper
• Long-term effects of crop rotation, tillage, and fertilizer nitrogen on soil health indicators and crop productivity in a temperate climate

  2021cited by this paper
• Regenerative rotational grazing management of dairy sheep increases springtime grass production and topsoil carbon storage

  2021cited by this paper
• Crop rotation enhances soybean yields and soil health indicators

  2021cited by this paper
• Corn and soybean yields and returns are greater in rotations with wheat

  2021cited by this paper
• The Influence of Long-Term Different Crop Rotations and Monoculture on Weed Prevalence and Weed Seed Content in the Soil

  2021cited by this paper
• Combining randomized field experiments with observational satellite data to assess the benefits of crop rotations on yields

  2021influential reference
• Soil Properties and Weed Dynamics in Wheat as Affected by Rice Residue Management in the Rice–Wheat Cropping System in South Asia: A Review

  2021cited by this paper
• Sustainable management of agricultural resources (agricultural crops and animals)

  2021cited by this paper
• Diversified Crop Rotation: An Approach for Sustainable Agriculture Production

  2021influential reference
• Effect of long-term fertilization on greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprints in northwest China: A field scale investigation using wheat-maize-fallow rotation cycles

  2021cited by this paper
• Crop cover is more important than rotational diversity for soil multifunctionality and cereal yields in European cropping systems

  2021cited by this paper
• Soil carbon dioxide and methane emissions and carbon balance with crop rotation and nitrogen fertilization

  2021cited by this paper
• Methane and Nitrous Oxide Emission from Louisiana Rice Fields under Three Water Management Practices

  2020cited by this paper
• No tillage increases soil organic carbon storage and decreases carbon dioxide emission in the crop residue-returned farming system.

  2020cited by this paper
• Conservation Agriculture: An Efficient Tool to Overcome the Drawbacks of Conventional Agricultural System towards Sustainable Crop Production

  2020influential reference
• Improving soil physical properties through the use of cover crops: A review

  2020cited by this paper
• Are Cover Crop Mixtures Better at Suppressing Weeds than Cover Crop Monocultures?

  2020cited by this paper
• Managing Grazing to Restore Soil Health, Ecosystem Function, and Ecosystem Services

  2020cited by this paper
• Hydraulic properties of soil under warming climate

  2020cited by this paper
• Effect of Nitrogen Fertilizer on Soil CO2 Emission Depends on Crop Rotation Strategy

  2020cited by this paper
• Does crop rotation yield more in China? A meta-analysis

  2020cited by this paper
• Crop rotations sustain cereal yields under a changing climate

  2020influential reference
• Crop rotation mitigates impacts of corn rootworm resistance to transgenic Bt corn

  2020cited by this paper
• Hazards of nitrogen fertilizers and ways to reduce nitrate accumulation in crop plants

  2020cited by this paper
• Cropping System and Rotational Grazing Effects on Soil Fertility and Enzymatic Activity in an Integrated Organic Crop-Livestock System

  2020influential reference
• Rhizosphere Microbiome and Soil-Borne Diseases

  2020cited by this paper
• Carbon Dioxide Fluxes and Carbon Stocks under Conservation Agricultural Practices in South Africa

  2020cited by this paper
• The concept and future prospects of soil health

  2020cited by this paper
• Soil Health Gap: A concept to establish a benchmark for soil health management

  2020cited by this paper
• Role of Soil Biota and Associated Threats

  2020cited by this paper
• The Roles of Plant Growth Promoting Microbes in Enhancing Plant Tolerance to Acidity and Alkalinity Stresses

  2020cited by this paper
• Planting legume cover crop as a strategy to replace synthetic N fertilizer applied for sugarcane production

  2020cited by this paper
• Impacts of crop rotational diversity and grazing under integrated crop-livestock system on soil surface greenhouse gas fluxes

  2019cited by this paper
• Organic Farming Practices: Integrated Culture Versus Monoculture

  2019influential reference
• Crops Diversification and the Role of Orphan Legumes to Improve the Sub-Saharan Africa Farming Systems

  2019cited by this paper
• Soil carbon saturation, productivity, and carbon and nitrogen cycling in crop-pasture rotations

  2019cited by this paper
• Agronomic Crops: Volume 2: Management Practices

  2019cited by this paper
• Effect of Long-Term Cropping Systems on the Diversity of the Soil Bacterial Communities

  2019cited by this paper
• Combined effects of straw and water management on CH4 emissions from rice fields.

  2019cited by this paper
• A review of Advantages, Disadvantages and Challenges of Crop Rotations

  2019influential reference
• A critical review of the impacts of cover crops on nitrogen leaching, net greenhouse gas balance and crop productivity

  2019cited by this paper
• Legume-based rotations have clear economic advantages over cereal monocropping in dry areas

  2019cited by this paper
• Diversified Arable Cropping Systems and Management Schemes in Selected European Regions Have Positive Effects on Soil Organic Carbon Content

  2019cited by this paper
• Fundamentals of Crop Rotation in Agronomic Management

  2019cited by this paper
• Soil and Crop Management Strategies to Ensure Higher Crop Productivity within Sustainable Environments

  2019cited by this paper
• Response of Grazing Land Soil Health to Management Strategies: A Summary Review

  2018influential reference
• Crop rotational diversity increases disease suppressive capacity of soil microbiomes

  2018cited by this paper
• The influence of rotational tillage on soil water storage, water use efficiency and maize yield in semi-arid areas under varied rainfall conditions

  2018cited by this paper
• Crop Rotation Maintains Soil Sustainability

  2018cited by this paper
• Soil Microbiology And Sustainable Crop Production

  2018cited by this paper

• Functional traits are plastic in response to intercropping, improving the stability of yield through temporal asynchrony

  2026cites this paper
• Decoupling Relationship and Optimization Path of Cropland Use Intensity and Carbon Emission in Henan Province

  2026cites this paper
• Emissions and performance analysis of a variable compression ratio engine fueled with safflower oil methyl ester-diesel blends

  2026cites this paper
• Assessing the impact of nature-based solutions on soil health in sub-Saharan Africa through farmer-centred methods

  2026cites this paper
• Rhizosphere Versus Bulk Soil Properties of Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) Growing Under Field Conditions in Southern Algeria

  2026cites this paper
• Integrating legumes to enhance cereal production: The relative inputs of fertiliser nitrogen and legume biological nitrogen fixation in major wheat and maize producing countries

  2026cites this paper
• Optimizing Diversified Crop Rotation Strategies Under Temperature and Precipitation Change Scenarios in a Typical Agro-Pastoral Ecotone Using the APSIM Model

  2026cites this paper
• Influence of Preceding Crops and Fertilization Strategies on Wheat Performance and Disease Dynamics

  2026cites this paper
• The role of alfalfa ( Medicago sativa L.) in soil health and greenhouse gas mitigation in integrated crop-livestock systems: a review

  2025cites this paper
• Sustainable Soybean Production Using Residual Vermicompost Inputs in Corn-Soybean Rotation

  2025cites this paper
• UAV Multispectral Imaging for Multi-Year Assessment of Crop Rotation Effects on Winter Rye

  2025cites this paper
• Agroecological, Socioeconomic Potentials and Limitations of Abandoned Cattle Corrals in Sub-saharan Africa: A Review

  2025cites this paper
• From Microbial Functions to Measurable Indicators: A Framework for Predicting Grassland Productivity and Stability

  2025cites this paper
• Rotation of soybean and Corydalis yanhusuo enhances yield and active compounds of C. yanhusuo via soil nutrient optimisation and rhizosphere microbiome engineering

  2025cites this paper
• Spring Oat Yields in Crop Rotation and Continuous Cropping: Reexamining the Need for Crop Protection When Growing Modern Varieties

  2025cites this paper
• Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Agricultural Crops and Management Practices: The Impact of the Integrated Crop Emission Mitigation Framework on Greenhouse Gas Reduction

  2025cites this paper
• Regenerative Agriculture and Sustainable Plant Protection: Enhancing Resilience Through Natural Strategies

  2025cites this paper
• VALUATION OF SOME SELECTED MINOR SOIL FERTILITY ELEMENTS IN THE LOAMY SOIL UNDER MIXED CROPPING, CROP ROTATION AND FALLOW IN BAMA AREA OF BORNO STATE, NORTHEAST NIGERIA

  year unknowncites this paper