Mississippi's Centennial Rotation - 2004-2018

Mississippi's Centennial Rotation was established in 2004 to celebrate the Centennial of the Delta Branch Experiment Station (now referred to as the Delta Research and Extension Center) at Stoneville, MS.  While crop rotation is not a new concept, the practice fell by the wayside with the profitability of mono-crop cotton.  However, as irrigated grain crops became profitable, crop rotations involving grain crops became more common and cotton production fell to as low as 300,000 acres in Mississippi.  As grain prices decline, cotton production is making some come back and acreage has increased in the most resent years.  Research in Mississippi, dating back to 2000, has shown rotation effects of 9.0 to 17.1% increase averaged over a least ten years with cotton following corn verses cotton following cotton.  For the first 12 years of the Centennial Rotation, cotton following corn in rotation, had a 22.0% increase in yield compared to continuous cotton over the same time frame.  The 22.0% increase translated to 222 lb lint/acre/year.  While yields in the systems have been important, nutrient uptake and nutrient removal have also been important and estimated annually.  This oral presentation will provide the latest summaries from the on-going Centennial Rotation.