Peanut response following soybean grown full‐season or double‐cropped after wheat in North Carolina

Abstract Including soybean [ Glycine max (L.) Merr.] in the previous cropping cycle can adversely affect peanut ( Arachis hypogaea L.) yield by increasing disease incidence and populations of plant‐parasitic nematodes in the soil. The impact of double‐cropping wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) and soybean versus full‐season soybean (referred to as the soybean planting system) has not been determined for peanut. Soybean and wheat yields were not affected by diverse crop sequences that included corn, cotton, peanut, and soybean under conventional tillage. Peanut, soybean, and wheat yields were greater at one of two locations when peanut followed a crop sequence that included tall fescue in previous years compared with a crop sequence without tall fescue. Peanut yield was greater at one of two locations when grown the year after double‐cropped wheat and soybean compared with full‐season soybean. Root galling of peanut caused by root‐knot nematode ( Meloidogyne spp.) was lower at one of two locations when tall fescue was included in the previous crop sequence. Results from these experiments indicate there is less risk for lower peanut yield when wheat and soybean are double‐cropped than when full‐season soybean is established the year prior to peanut.