A secondary crop grown to interrupt the repeated sowing of cereals as part of crop rotation.
Example sentencesExamples
- Dramatic changes in biodiversity could be effected by changing the crops grown - such as growing less wheat or maize and using beet and rape as break crops more extensively.
- The crop is a useful break crop increasing the yield of the following winter wheat by about 1.5 t/ha.
- Cover or break crops in the rotation can be important for weed management.
- First wheat after a break crop can be drilled from early September (or late August if you must) providing the break crop did not have a significant couch infestation or volunteer cereals which both host take-all.
- Chickpeas are proving to be an effective nitrogen-fixing break crop with the added bonus of being a profitable crop.
- The beet forms a good break crop on land that will not grow potatoes.
- Despite its useful role as a break crop, oilseed rape cannot be grown too regularly in the same field for the risk of a serious disease build up.