The diversification of species in crop rotation increases the profitability of grain production systems

Crop rotation with species diversification contributes to the control of pests, diseases and weeds and improves soil fertility and conservation, which can lead to increased profitability in grain production systems. The objectives of this study were to determine whether grain production systems that employ crop rotation with species diversification are more productive and profitable than double-cropping rotations without diversification and to analyze the revenues and production costs of these cropping systems. An experiment was conducted in a region with subtropical climate between the crop years of 2014–2015 and 2019–2020. The experiment consisted of a randomized block design with six treatments and four replicates. The treatments consisted of six grain production systems, including five rotations with varied levels of species diversification and a corn–soybean rotation without species diversification, all under no-tillage. Productivity, revenue, production cost and profit indicators were analyzed. Productivity was compared by Duncan’s test (p ≤ 0.05). The grain production systems with species diversification showed better productivity and profitability than the corn–soybean system. The profit of the systems with species diversification was on average 37% higher than that of the system with corn–soybean rotation. In summary, grain production systems that employ crop rotation with species diversification showed higher productivity and profitability than the corn–soybean rotation without species diversification.