Microbes (i.e., fungi and bacteria) are needed to maintain the quality of semiarid soils and crop production. Enzyme (produced by microbes) activities were increased in the soil when cotton was rotated with sorghum or wheat under reduced or no-tillage in comparison to continuous cotton under tillage. Soil bacteria and fungi did not change, according to one analysis conducted, due to crop rotation under reduced or no-tillage in comparison to continuous cotton under tillage. The increases in enzyme activities, however, are indicating that microbes and their enzymes will be increased, and thus nutrients will be more available to plants, more organic matter will be formed, and other soil properties will also positively change if crop rotations with reduced or no-tillage are applied to semiarid soils in comparison to the typical current practice of continuous cotton with tillage.
