The crop rotation is a farm-scale management choice that dictates agronomic output, ecological impacts, and farm viability. Rotations have become less diverse recently. Re-diversifying may help agricultural systems meet the growing, dynamic demands from society and challenges from climate change. Using a long-term experiment, we tested whether diversified rotations could a) match the productivity (grain yield) of simplified rotations while b) stabilizing productivity against variable weather in the western U.S. Corn Belt. We identified rotation design choices that drive these productivity-stability dynamics. Although more productive rotations were more susceptible to weather ( = 0.63; < 0.001), this tradeoff was surmountable ( < 0.001): the corn-oat-winter wheat-soybean ( L., L., L., (L.) Merr.) rotation was a) no less productive than the highly unstable, corn-soybean rotation ( = 0.11); and b) only marginally less stable than the most stable rotation ( = 0.06). Crop selection and sequencing were critical to this outcome. High productivity was due to a) overyielding of individual crops in diversified rotations that increased with time; b) sequencing to allow higher-yielding winter crops; and c) beneficial crop legacy effects. Stability was highest in rotations that included crops belonging to more weather-niches ( = 0.67; < 0.001). Surprisingly, these weather-niches groups did not correspond to traditional categories like cool- vs warm-season crops. These results suggest four principles for the design, study, and implementation of diversified grain rotations that are stable under erratic weather and are as productive as current standard practices.

中文翻译：

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多样化的粮食轮作可以在不稳定的气候下实现高产和可靠的生产

轮作是农场规模的管理选择，决定着农业产出、生态影响和农场生存能力。最近，轮换变得越来越不多样化。重新多样化可能有助于农业系统满足社会不断增长的动态需求和气候变化的挑战。通过长期实验，我们测试了多样化轮作是否能够a）与简化轮作的生产力（粮食产量）相匹配，同时b）在美国西部玉米带的多变天气下稳定生产力。我们确定了推动这些生产力稳定性动态的轮换设计选择。尽管生产力更高的轮作更容易受到天气的影响 (= 0.63; < 0.001)，但这种权衡是可以克服的 (< 0.001)：玉米-燕麦-冬小麦-大豆 (L., L., L., (L.) Merr .) 轮作 a) 的生产力不低于高度不稳定的玉米-大豆轮作 (= 0.11)； b) 仅比最稳定的旋转稳定性稍差 (= 0.06)。作物选择和测序对于这一结果至关重要。高生产力是由于 a) 多种轮作中个别作物的产量随着时间的推移而增加； b) 进行测序以提高冬季作物的产量； c) 有益的作物遗产效应。轮作的稳定性最高，其中包括属于更多气候利基的作物 (= 0.67；< 0.001)。令人惊讶的是，这些天气利基群体与冷季作物和暖季作物等传统类别并不对应。这些结果提出了设计、研究和实施多样化谷物轮作的四项原则，这些轮作在不稳定的天气下保持稳定，并且与当前标准做法一样富有成效。