New Rotation Study – Swift Current, Saskatchewan

The “New Rotation” experiment was initiated in 1987 at Swift Current, Saskatchewan. The objectives were to evaluate, under conservation tillage management, the influence of crop and rotation type on crop productivity and grain quality, incidence of plant diseases and weed populations, a suite of soil and environmental parameters, economic performance and energy use efficiencies. The study provided clear evidence that an annual legume green manure (LGM) can be successfully used as a partial fallow replacement for the semiarid Canadian prairies. Increased cropping frequency in combination with appropriate fertilizer applications increased total annualized grain production, fostered improvements in soil quality and precipitation use efficiency. Overall, nitrate leaching risk was shown to be low when conservation tillage management is used.