The effects of leys and their management on the yield of succeeding wheat crops on heavy land

Abstract

1. One long-term experiment comparing the effects of leys and arable cropping on the yield of arable crops and three experiments on the effect of management of lucerne/grass leys on the following arable crops, all conducted on heavy clay land, are described and the results discussed.2. In the first two years after breaking a ley yields of wheat were higher than on plots which had had all-arable cropping and it is suggested that this effect could be due to a combination of disease and weed control and the nitrogen status of the soil.