Assessing the Role of Crop Rotation in Shaping Foliage Characteristics and Leaf Gas Exchange Parameters for Winter Wheat

Properly designed crop rotation enriches the diversity of the agroecosystem, which has a favorable effect on the environmental properties and crop yield. The experiment assessed winter wheat cultivated under the following crop rotations: A. winter rape + catch crop − spring barley − field pea − winter wheat; B. winter rape − winter wheat + catch crop − field pea − winter wheat; C. winter rape + catch crop − field pea − winter wheat − winter wheat; D. winter rape − winter wheat + catch crop − spring barley − winter wheat. The aim of the study was to investigate: (i) whether the cultivation of wheat in crop rotations following forecrops of rape, pea, barley, and wheat will affect its foliage and photosynthesis; (ii) how the photosynthetic process will affect the wheat yield. At the stem elongation stage (BBCH 36) and at the heading stage (BBCH 58), the following were investigated: foliage features, photosynthetic parameters, and the above-ground biomass; while at the BBCH 89 stage, the grain yield was investigated. It was demonstrated that photosynthesis was most intense under crop rotation A (the highest stomatal conductance, transpiration, intercellular CO 2 concentration, and net assimilation rate ranged from 13.1–29.7 μmol CO 2 ∙m −2 ·s −1 ). This was reflected in the above-ground biomass volume (1245–1634 g m −2 ) and grain yield (4.58–7.65 t ha −1 ). The cultivation of wheat following wheat under crop rotation C and following barley under D had a negative effect on both the foliage and photosynthetic parameters.