Effects of selective herbicide treatment on weed community in cereal crop rotation

Abstract

The efficacy of different frequently used selective herbicides and their impact on weed community were assessed in the field experiment with cereal crop rotation in 2013–2016. All herbicide treatments provided effective weed control, but community composition changed after 4 years. The density of many weed species increased on the untreated plots. Annual grasses Apera spica-venti and Alopecurus myosuroides had temporal increase at plots treated with 2,4-d, florasulam and aminopyralid, but decline at plots treated with pyroxsulam and/or chlorsulfuron. Significant treatment effect was confirmed only for Shannon’s index (H’), where the highest H’ was found in untreated controls (1.83) and the smallest in plots treated with 2,4-d + florasulam + aminopyralid (1.61). The pyroxsulam + florasulam + aminopyralid showed the greatest efficacy on a broad spectrum of weeds while maintaining reasonable species diversity.