What pulses are best for your canola rotation?

What pulse is right for you? Canola growers looking for a pulse crop to add to their rotation can open Pulses in rotation with canola: Quick comparison to compare soybeans, peas, lentils, chickpeas, fababeans and edible beans.

Here’s another view, but the PDF is probably better:

Pulses use root nodulation to provide a large percentage of their nitrogen need, reducing nitrogen fertilizer costs across the whole rotation. Some pulses – peas and fababeans in particular – can also increase the available N for the following crop. Pulses can also help the following crops to access more soil N reserves because they leave the soil in better condition for root growth, improve soil biological activity, and increase colonization of roots by arbuscular mycorrhizae (AM) fungi (which is more important for cereals, not canola). Other benefits of pulses in rotation may be more substantial. These include improved soil tilth and moisture utilization, and a break for (some) pest and disease cycles.

Further reading:

Pulse Tips for growing the six major pulses, from SaskPulse
Economic discussion on rotations, Manitoba Agriculture