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Collaborative project: Site specific risk evaluation of mechanical and chemical weed control in row crops promoting sustainable crop protection. Subproject (EvaHerb)

Project


Project code: 2815NA197
Contract period: 01.03.2019 - 28.02.2022
Budget: 260,413 Euro
Purpose of research: Applied research
Keywords: crop protection, plant health, weed, integrated plant protection, crop production, sugar beet

Efficient weed control is vital for the economic performance of row crops characterized by a late canopy closure. For both organic and integrated production, camera guided systems are available to steer hoeing implements working both between crop rows and between single plants within rows. Nevertheless, camera guided hoeing between plants within rows is not practicable for arable crops such as maize and sugar beet, because the area performance of such systems is very low and costs are high. In integrated cropping, combining hoeing between rows with spraying herbicides in a band on the row is feasible to diminish the amount of applied herbicides by about 60 % compared to an overall treatment. Nevertheless, the potential risks listed below might counteract the opportunities mentioned above: decreased ground cover by crop residues due to hoeing might boost soil erosion and decrease abundance of earthworms and epigeic beneficial arthropods. Field experiments will be conducted to quantify such and other effects of chemical, mechanical and combined chemical-mechanical weed control. Results will be comprehensively evaluated in a technology impact assessment/systems analysis. Further, they might contribute to develop an internet based decision support tool to assist farmers in balancing site specific benefits and risks of chemical and mechanical weed control.

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