Impact of site-specific weed management in winter crops on weed populations

Abstract

This work is focused on evaluating the effects of site-specific weed management (SSWM) on weed populations over a 4-year period. SSWM was used on a 3.07 ha experimental field during 2011–2014 in a rotation of winter wheat and winter oilseed rape. The area was split into application cells of 6 × 10 m and weed abundance was evaluated manually in each cell. Four different herbicide treatments were tested. Standard whole-field herbicide application (blanket spraying) was treatment 1. Treatments 2, 3 and 4 comprised SSWM using different thresholds for post-emergent herbicide applications. SSWM resulted in herbicide savings of 6.3–100% for Galium aparine, 0–84.4% for other dicotyledonous weeds, and 31.3–90.6% for annual monocotyledonous weeds. SSWM led to significantly increased density of G. aparine and Tripleurospermum inodorum in the final experimental year when compared to the blanket treatment. Negative correlation coefficients between 2011 and 2014 plant densities found in SSWM treatments (−0.237 to −0.401) indicate that Apera spica-venti does not establish a long-term soil seed bank.