Effects of some integrated management options on parthenium interference in sorghum

Parthenium is widely distributed across the uncropped areas of the tropics. It has slowly encroached into many crops and causes considerable yield loss. It heavily infests sorghum, which is widely cultivated by the resource‐poor farmers in Africa and Asia. Its interference and management in sorghum in these cropping systems is not well understood. Therefore, this experiment was undertaken to determine the appropriate parthenium management techniques to use in sorghum crops. All the studied weeds, in combination with parthenium, offered greater competition to sorghum than parthenium alone. Similarly, under a composite stand of weeds, parthenium was inferior in competitiveness to the other weeds until 60 days after sowing (DAS); by 90 DAS, it could accumulate a higher dry weight due to its consistent growth. A pre‐emergence treatment of atrazine (0.75 kg ha^‐1) with wheat straw mulch (5.0 t ha^?1) brought about a consistent and significant reduction in the parthenium growth and, consequently, increased the sorghum yield by 90.8%. Cowpea intercropping with and without pendimethalin (1.0 kg ha^?1) as a pre‐emergence treatment could not control parthenium between 0 and 60 DAS, but could reduce the parthenium growth during the later period of 60–90 DAS, which resulted in a significant increase in sorghum growth. These intercropping treatments increased the sorghum grain yield by 156.2% and 142.4%, respectively, over the unweeded control and by 18.5% and 12.1%, respectively, over the weed‐free control. These treatments also promoted a higher uptake of N, P, and K by the sorghum crop. Thus, cowpea intercropping was the most effective method for parthenium management vis‐à‐vis sorghum yield improvement, followed by cowpea intercropping with pendimethalin and then by atrazine as a pre‐emergence treatment with wheat straw mulch.     

Chemical control of herbicide-resistant Lolium rigidum Gaud. in north-eastern Spain

BACKGROUND: Lolium rigidum Gaud. is one of the most common weed species in winter cereals in north‐eastern Spain, with populations that have evolved resistance to herbicides becoming more widespread since the mid‐1990s. Nine trials on commercial fields with herbicide‐resistant L. rigidum were conducted during the cropping seasons 2001–2002 to 2003–2004, testing the efficacy of 20 herbicides and mixtures pre‐ and post‐emergence and as sequential applications. Weed populations chosen had different resistance patterns to chlortoluron, chlorsulfuron, diclofop‐methyl and tralkoxydim, representative of the resistance problems faced by farmers. RESULTS: In pre‐emergence, prosulfocarb mixed with trifluralin, chlortoluron or triasulfuron was effective on six populations. In post‐emergence, iodosulfuron alone or mixed with mesosulfuron gave the best results but did not control three resistant populations. At Ferran 1, none of the herbicide combinations reached 90% efficacy. CONCLUSIONS: The diverse efficacy patterns of the different populations demonstrate the need for detailed knowledge of the populations before using herbicides. Moreover, the unexpected insufficient efficacy of the new herbicide iodosulfuron prior to its field use shows the need to combine herbicides with other non‐chemical weed control methods to control resistant L. rigidum in north‐eastern Spain. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry     

Allelopathic effect of itchgrass (Rottboellia cochinchinensis) on seed germination and plant growth

Herbicides produce a wide range of toxic side-effects that pose a potential hazard to the environment. The development of natural allelochemicals is one method of addressing these issues. Here, we describe the allelopathic activity of itchgrass ( Rottboellia cochinchinensis ), which can inhibit the seed germination and growth of weeds. Farmers in Lampang, northern Thailand, have been cultivating itchgrass and using it as a mulching material to control other weeds in vegetable fields. It has long been observed that itchgrass interferes with the growth of other plants. This study showed that the density of weed species in the itchgrass-infested areas was lower than that in the itchgrass-uninfested areas. The shoot and root growth of Bidens pilosa , Mimosa pudica , Ageratum conyzoides , Echinochloa crus-galli , Oryza sativa var. RD 6, and Lactuca sativa var. OP were significantly reduced in soil previously planted with itchgrass. Water-soluble extracts from all parts of itchgrass had inhibitory effects on the growth of some test plants. Allelochemicals from itchgrass can inhibit seed germination and plant growth better at a 1 cm distance than at a 3 cm and 5 cm distance from itchgrass. Our results suggest that itchgrass has a strong competitive ability and possible allelopathic activity to other plant species. The allelopathic activity of itchgrass in the soil can influence the germination of adjacent species, causing reduced growth of seedlings.     

10.8%吡氟禾草灵乳油防除大豆田禾本科杂草药效试验

对10.8%高效吡氟禾草灵乳油除草效果与安全性进行了田间小区试验。结果表明:10.8%高效吡氟禾草灵乳油375~525 mL.hm-2,能有效的防除大豆田禾本科杂草,对大豆安全,无明显药害症状;10.8%高效吡氟禾草灵乳油525 mL.hm-2对禾本科杂草防效与10.8%高效盖草能乳油450 mL.hm-2相当;大豆苗后早期茎叶喷雾处理,以大豆1~2片复叶期,禾本科草3~5叶期前施药效果好。