Timing of Tillage as a Driver of Weed Communities

Abstract

Tillage is a foundational management practice in many cropping systems. Although effective at reducing weed populations and preparing a crop seedbed, tillage and cultivation can also dramatically alter weed community composition. We examined the impact of soil tillage timing on weed community structure at four sites across the northeastern United States. Soil was tilled every 2 wk throughout the growing season (late April to late September 2013), and weed seedling density was quantified by species 6 wk after each tillage event. We used a randomized complete block design with four replicates for each tillage-timing treatment; a total of 196 plots were sampled. The timing of tillage was an important factor in shaping weed community composition and structure at all sites. We identified three main periods of tillage timing that resulted in similar communities. Across all sites, total weed density tended to be greatest and weed evenness tended to be lowest when soils were tilled early in the growing season. From the earliest to latest group of timings, total abundance decreased on average from 428 ± 393 to 159 ± 189 plants m −2 , and evenness increased from 0.53 ± 0.25 to 0.72 ± 0.20. The effect of tillage timing on weed species richness varied by site. Our results show that tillage timing affects weed community structure, suggesting that farmers can manage weed communities and the potential for weed interference by adjusting the timing of their tillage and cropping practices.

Biodiversity-based options for arable weed management. A review

“…1 A legume-based cover crop being destroyed by a roller before crop sowing glyphosate) or tillage ( Fig. 2; study case 1), which stimulates the establishment of other weed seedlings (Cordeau et al 2017). In regions with hard winters, farmers often use frostsensitive cover crop species (e.g., Phacelia tanacetifolia Benth., Guizotia abyssinica (L.f.) Cass., Fagopyrum esculentum Moench, Helianthus annuus L., Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench, Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz, Raphanus sativus var.…”

Disentangling the Effects of Tillage Timing and Weather on Weed Community Assembly

“…Previous research has sought to disentangle the effects of different factors responsible for shaping weed communities, and has examined the effects on weed species richness [4] and weed density [7,8]. Factorial experiments have been performed at the field scale to understand weed community assembly by assessing the effects of management practices including crop rotation [9], tillage [10], and weed control [3,7]. However, Anderson and Milberg [1], using a larger geographical gradient, reported that the greatest differences between weed communities in the sampled regions were due to site characteristics.…”

Control of soil weediness and sugar beets by after crop green manure and different tillages

“…За даними науковців (Bhagirath and Gulshan, 2014;Kyryliuk, 2013;Cordeau, 2017;Melander et al, 2017), дієвим елементом технології боротьби з бур'янами при вирощуванні буряків цукрових вважається полицева оранка, за якої насіння бур'янів рівномірно розподіляється за всією глибиною обробітку ґрунту. За дискового обробітку переважна кількість насіння бур'янів зосереджується в шарі ґрунту 0-5см, а безполицевого плоскорізного рихлення -глибше 5см (Titenko, 2010).…”

“…шт./га (Shuvar, 2016). Корегування потенційної засміченості й похідної від неї фактичної наявності бур'янів залежить в значній мірі від ефективності поєднання проміжної сидерації (Price and Norsworthy, 2013;Kunz et al, 2016) та системи основного обробітку ґрунту (Gudz', 2010;Cordeau, 2017). Дані агротехнічні заходи боротьби з бур'янами гарантовано забезпечують відсутність поширення в посівах буряків цукрових стійких до гербіцидів видів засмічувачів, яких у світі за останнє десятиліття визначено більш ніж 194 видів, в тому числі 114 дводольних та 80 злакових (Online document: Heap, 2010).…”