AGRONOMIC PERFORMANCE OF SOYBEANS (Glycine max (L.) Merrill)) IN AN ORGANIC CROP ROTATION SYSTEM

Summary

Soybean was sown after sunflower, sesame and maize between 2008 and 2012 to assess its agronomic performance under continuous, rotational and conventional cropping systems. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design and replicated four times. Soybean grown under rotational cropping system produced significantly (p<0.05, F-test) higher number of branches, seeds and pods per plant than the soybean under continuous and conventional cropping systems in 2012. Similar trend was recorded in 2011 and 2012 for grain yield. On average the grain yield performance of soybean under rotational cropping system (2,445.0 – 2758.3 kg.ha-1) was superior to the yield of soybean under continuous and conventional cropping systems (1343.8 – 2556.3 kg.ha-1) as the rotation scheme became stable from 2010 to 2012. Inclusion of soybean in crop rotation scheme is hereby recommended for sustainable organic crop production systems.