The residual effect of fertilizer in soil: Can crop rotation practices combat soil fertility loss and increase crop yield?

The depletion of soil nutrients is a global problem with a tendency to increase under climate change leading to degraded soils and decreasing crop yields. Various initiatives aim at the restoration of soils and the ecosystem services they provide. Studies investigating the effects of fertilizer application on soils have found positive long-term effects on soil nutrient content and crop yield even in the season after the fertilizer application. The utilization of this so called fertilizer residual effect has been suggested as a possible solution to prevent decreasing soil fertility. This study investigates the residual effects of NPK fertilizer on the fertility of agricultural soil in the Su…