Weed Control Assessment of Various Carbon Sources for Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation

Abstract

Greenhouse trials were conducted to evaluate the effect of several locally available carbon (C) sources on weed suppression using anaerobic soil disinfestation (ASD). Carbon sources included rice bran, sorghum-sudangrass, cowpea, buckwheat, paper mulch, brewer`s spent grain, waste coffee grounds, and peanut shells applied at 4 mg of C/g of soil. All trials were conducted in containers of 0.2-m height and 0.15-m diameter. The germination of common chickweed, redroot pigweed, white clover, and yellow nutsedge was reduced similarly with all C sources used for ASD. The addition of distiller’s yeast at 10 kg/ha to C sources at 4 mg of C/g of soil provided similar or better weed control than ASD treatments with C sources alone. ASD treatments in all trials reduced weed viability from 50% to 100% compared to the non-treated control. Redox potential in all ASD treatments during the 3-week treatment was lower (more anaerobic) than the non-treated control.