Publication Name

Therese McBeath1, Bill Davoren1, Vadakattu Gupta1, Rick Llewellyn1 and Anthony Whitbread2
1CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, Waite Precinct, Adelaide. 2 Crop Production Systems in the Tropics, University of Gottingen, Germany
Peer Reviewer: Ashlea Doolette

Key Messages
• Average wheat yield gains were approximately 0.6 t/ha in the first year after a break and the size of this yield gain was similar in high and low yielding seasons.
• Second year break effects were generally in the order of 0.3 t/ha and third year break effects 0.1 t/ha, resulting in a total of approximately 1 t/ha more wheat being produced following a break compared to continuous wheat.
• The effect of breaks on subsequent wheat yields is usually more consistent across soils, seasons and break type than the yield of break crops.
• Cumulative gross margins from wheat following legume, brassica and legume-based pasture breaks were generally much higher than continuous wheat, but the overall profitability of including breaks is strongly determined by the high variability in the relative profit from the different break options on different soils in the year that they are grown.