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Meteorological and Management Factors Influencing Weed Abundance during 18 Years of Organic Crop Rotations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 April 2018

John R. Teasdale ,
Steven B. Mirsky  and
Michel A. Cavigelli
John R. Teasdale*
Affiliation:
Biological Collaborator, Sustainable Agricultural Systems Lab, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD, USA
Steven B. Mirsky
Affiliation:
Research Ecologist, Sustainable Agricultural Systems Lab, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD, USA
Michel A. Cavigelli
Affiliation:
Soil Scientist, Sustainable Agricultural Systems Lab, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD, USA
*
Author for correspondence: John Teasdale, USDA-ARS, Building 001 Room 245, 10300 Baltimore Avenue, Beltsville, MD 20705. (Email: john.teasdale@ars.usda.gov)
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Abstract

Organic crop production is often limited by the inability to control weeds. An 18-yr data set of weed cover in organic crop rotations at the long-term Farming Systems Project at Beltsville, MD, was analyzed to identify meteorological and management factors influencing weed abundance. A path analysis using structural equation models was employed to distinguish between the direct effect of factors on weed cover and the indirect effect on weed cover through effects on crop competitiveness. Grain yield of corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] served as a surrogate for crop competitiveness and was found to be the most important factor influencing weed cover. Precipitation during late vegetative and early reproductive crop growth had a strong positive effect on crop yield, and thereby a negative indirect effect on weed cover, but this effect was partially offset by a positive direct effect on weed cover. Delayed crop planting date and crop rotational diversification including crops other than summer row crops had a moderate negative effect on weed cover, while having minimal effect on crop performance. Rotary hoeing also had a direct negative effect on weed cover, but a corresponding negative effect on crop performance resulted in a diminished total effect on weeds. Results demonstrate the complex interactions that define the relative abundance of weeds faced by organic growers, but, generally, factors that enhanced crop competitiveness provided the most effective weed management.

Keywords

Adam Davis, USDA-ARSCrop rotationlong-term agricultural researchorganic farmingpath analysisplanting dateprecipitationrotary hoestructural equation modelstemperature
Type
Weed Biology and Ecology
Information
Weed Science , Volume 66 , Issue 4 , July 2018 , pp. 477 - 484
Copyright
© Weed Science Society of America, 2018 

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