Winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is often rotated with a fallow in semiarid regions to conserve soil moisture and minimize crop failures. We hypothesized that direct seed systems coupled with intensified and more diverse crop rotations would produce an equivalent or greater annualized grain yield than a traditional winter wheat–fallow (WF) system. Furthermore, continuous cropping would lead to an accumulation of greater soil carbon than the traditional WF. A 6-yr study was conducted to evaluate crop rotations, which included pea (Pisum sativum L.), lentil (Lens culinaris Medik), lentil as a cover crop, spring wheat, or camelina [Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz] in rotation with winter wheat in 2- and 3-yr rotations. The results of this study averaged over 6 yr showed that increased cropping intensity produced an annualized yield equal to that of WF, provided that either a fallow or a cover crop rather than another grain crop was present prior to winter wheat. The soil quality indices showed particulate organic matter (POM) increased with rotations with greater cropping intensity (1.00 vs. 0.67), although the POM of these rotations was not different from that of WF.

中文翻译：

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在半干旱地区，作物轮作对产量的影响大于土壤质量

冬小麦 ( Triticum aestivum L.) 经常在半干旱地区休耕，以保持土壤水分并最大限度地减少作物歉收。我们假设，与传统的冬小麦休耕 (WF) 系统相比，直接播种系统与强化和更多样化的作物轮作相结合，将产生同等或更高的年化谷物产量。此外，与传统的WF相比，连作会导致更多的土壤碳积累。进行了一项为期 6 年的研究来评估作物轮作，其中包括豌豆 ( Pisum sativum L.)、小扁豆 ( Lens culinaris Medik)、作为覆盖作物的小扁豆、春小麦或亚麻荠 [ Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz] 在 2 年和 3 年轮作中与冬小麦轮作。这项研究平均超过 6 年的结果表明，如果在冬小麦之前存在休耕或覆盖作物而不是另一种粮食作物，则增加种植强度产生的年产量与 WF 相当。土壤质量指数显示颗粒有机质（POM）随着轮作强度的增加而增加（1.00 vs. 0.67），尽管这些轮作的POM与WF没有差异。