Economic benefits of integrated weed management systems for field crops in the Dark Brown and Black soil zones of western Canada

Abstract

Integrated weed management (IWM) systems that combine seeding date, seeding rate, herbicide rate, and timing of nitrogen (N) fertilizer application were assessed for their economic performance in the Dark Brown and Black soil zones. A barley-field pea IWM system in the Black soil zone at Lacombe, Alberta, and a wheat-canola IWM system in the Dark Brown soil zone at Lethbridge, Alberta, and Scott, Saskatchewan, were used to assess contributions of seeding date (April or May), seeding rate (recommended or 150% of recommended), fertilizer timing (fall or spring), and in-crop herbicide rate (50% or 100% of recommended). The factorial set of treatments was applied in 4 consecutive years at each site. For barley-field pea production, the highest contribution margin (CM) (returns over variable production costs) was earned with 50% of the recommended herbicide rate, spring application of N fertilizer, seeding barley later at the high seeding rate, and seeding field pea early at the recommended seeding rate. This IWM system had a CM benefit of at least $51 ha-1 compared with current common practices. The wheat-canola system results were site specific. At Lethbridge, it was more profitable to use 50% of recommended herbicide rates and to seed both crops early, with an early seeding date being very important for canola. The CM of this IWM system was $48 ha-1 higher than current common practices. At Scott, the wheat-canola system was more profitable with spring fertilizer application, 50% of the recommended herbicide rate, and an early seeding date for canola. The best IWM system had a CM $15 to $75 ha-1 higher, depending on the year, than common practices. Our results confirmed the economic merits of using IWM practices for cereal-oilseed and cereal-pulse cropping systems in these regions of western Canada.