Studies of the Functionality of Annual Crop and Weed Diversity in Polyculture Cropping Systems PDF Download
Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download Studies of the Functionality of Annual Crop and Weed Diversity in Polyculture Cropping Systems PDF full book. Access full book title Studies of the Functionality of Annual Crop and Weed Diversity in Polyculture Cropping Systems by Anthony Ralph Szumigalski. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.
Author: Anthony Ralph Szumigalski
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Get Book Here
Book Description
Author: Anthony Ralph Szumigalski
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Get Book Here
Book Description
Author: Matt Liebman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139427245
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 546
Get Book Here
Book Description
This book presents principles and practices for ecologically based weed management in a wide range of temperate and tropical farming systems. Special attention is given to the evolutionary challenges that weeds pose and the roles that farmers can play in the development of new weed-management strategies.
Author: Katherine Caswell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Get Book Here
Book Description
To address the need for diversified weed management and innovative methods of cover crop incorporation, two distinct experiments were performed. The first, was based in a diverse, no-till dairy cropping systems study was established in 2010 seeking to produce enough feed, forage, and fuel to supply a 65-cow, 97 hectare dairy farm in Pennsylvania while minimizing off farm inputs. A 6-year diverse crop rotation, the Pest Management rotation, evaluated strategies that attempted to reduce herbicide inputs and the risk of herbicide resistant weeds. The rotation was composed of a sequence of annual crops, cover crops, and a perennial hay crop. A Reduced Herbicide (RH) treatment was compared to a Standard Herbicide (SH) treatment that was more reliant on chemical weed control. Both treatments utilized Integrated Weed Management where the RH treatment incorporated more cultural and mechanical methods of control. Management was altered in 2013 to address challenges faced in the first three years and results of 2013-2015 are analyzed here. Weed management was evaluated for the corn silage and soybean portion of the rotation as this is where the most intensive weed management occurs. The RH and SH treatments were compared based on crop yield, weed biomass, and net return to the farm enterprise. Both the RH and SH treatments generally maintained adequate weed control during 2013-2015 but biomass was generally greater in RH. Soybean yield varied between the treatment in one year, but these differences were not attributed to weed biomass. A greater net return to the farm was seen under SH management in soybean and RH in corn silage. The second study sought to address cover crop adoption in the Northeast, that has been slow and limited due to a number of factors. Farmers are faced with a constricted time window for cover crop planting following harvest and before weather conditions prevent fall growth. Multiple methods have been evaluated to expand this restricted planting window including aerial seeding, underseeding and relay intercropping. All of these methods face additional challenges in no-till production systems. Researchers at Penn State developed an innovative cover crop interseeder to address establishment restrictions in no-till grain production. After design of the machine was completed, a number of successful intseeder cover crops needed to be selected. A successful interseeded cover crop may require traits that are not normally associated with post-harvest established cover crops. These species need to tolerate low light and moisture conditions while being able to establish. Annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) has been shown to be a strong candidate for interseeding in earlier studies and a trial was conducted to test different varieties for interseeding ability. A Species Trial was conducted to evaluate different grass and legume species in either corn or soybean. These trials were conducted in Pennsylvania (PA), New York (NY), and Maryland (MD). Several species were shown to be better candidates for interseeding based on fall and spring biomass. These species were: Medium Red Clover (Trifolium pretense), Annual ryegrass, and Orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.). The annual ryegrass trial showed similar performance across varieties with few performing better than others. A better understanding of appropriate cover crop selection can be used in conjunction with ongoing work with herbicide selection to create recommendations for farmers.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Dissertations, Academic
Languages : en
Pages : 764
Get Book Here
Book Description
Author: Stephen Patrick Johnson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Cropping systems
Languages : en
Pages : 129
Get Book Here
Book Description
The reliance on tillage for cover crop termination, weed, and residue management is one of the biggest sustainability challenges facing organic grain farmers. Integrating grazers may be an alternative to tillage for weed management and cover crop termination. We used an on-farm trial to compare tillage-based versus grazed / reduced tillage-based management of organic crops. Our results indicate that using sheep to terminate cover crops andmanage weeds can reduce tillage intensity and provide crop yields weed communities similar to standard, tillage-intensive practices. In addition, growers leasing their land under a grazing lease may be able to increase economic returns. We also implemented a crop rotation study comparing traditional tillage-based organic to reduced-tillage organic with animal-integration, as well as to a no-till conventional system with fertilizer and pesticide inputs. There were no differences in cover crop growth and subsequent winter wheat yielded the same among the three systems. We found little evidence that weed communities differed among the three management systems in the transition to organic period. Generally, shifts in weed communities occurred across all system from one crop to the next, indicating cropping sequence structured weed communities more than divergent tillage and weed management practices Biologically-mediated plant-soil feedbacks (PSFs) are known to alter plant growth, plant-plant interactions, and plant community dynamics in natural systems. Yet, little is known about the magnitude and importance of PSFs in agro-ecosystems. Therefore, we implemented a greenhouse study that investigated the impact of organic and conventional management systems on crop growth and crop-weed interactions as mediated through PSFs. Results indicated that in general, PSFs and plant growth were more positive when soil inocula was collected from organic farms compared to conventional farms, suggesting that cropping systems modify the relative abundance of mutualistic and pathogenic organisms responsible for the observed PSFs. Also, as feedbacks became more positive, crop-weed competition decreased and facilitation increased. Therefore, in annual cropping systems, PSFs can alter plant growth and crop-weed competition.
Author: Ernst-Detlef Schulze
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9783540581031
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 562
Get Book Here
Book Description
With the accelerating loss of biodiversity there is increasing concern about how this loss may be affecting ecosystem processes, or services, that are of benefit to human well being. The limited studies that address the principal question directly, species numbers versus system function, are evaluated. Moreover, the degree of redundancy within systems, the ubiquity of keystone species, the tightness of species interactions from mutualisms to food webs, the resilience of systems to perturbation, the interactions of landscape units are explored, as is also how policy decisions are driven in this research area. This book brings together the disciplines of population biology and ecoysystem science, both directed toward evaluating the consequences of human-driven disruptions of natural systems.
Author: Kshounish Chandra Nag
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 124
Get Book Here
Book Description
Author: Uriel Danilo Menalled
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 94
Get Book Here
Book Description
Crop diversification can reduce weed-crop competition and contribute to ecological weed management, but the mechanisms by which crop diversity reduces weed-crop competition and the persistence of those effects are poorly understood. The legacy effects of crop diversity on weed-crop competition were tested after a multi-year field experiment that compared conspecific and heterospecific crop diversity in intercropped annual and perennial systems. In a greenhouse experiment, soil from the field experiment was collected and manipulated to elucidate the effects of soil microbes in determining weed-crop competition. After the final harvest in the field experiment a uniformity trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of crop diversity on weed community structure and compare weed-crop competition. In both cases, crop diversity had minimal effects on weed-crop competition. However, the annual and perennial cropping systems that contextualized the diversity treatments consistently influenced microbial plant-soil feedbacks, crop nutrient uptake, weed communities, and weed-crop competition.
Author: Julie Baniszewski
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Get Book Here
Book Description
Modern agriculture has pushed for efficiency in its practices, genetics, equipment and new technologies. Unfortunately, achieving higher productivity often relies on greater levels of inputs. Consequently, intensive agricultural systems provide simplified habitats (i.e., crop fields) that are favorable to pests and require chemicals to maintain desired levels of productivity or quality. The side effect of synthetic chemicals, monoculture crops and a drive for the highest yields is reduced biodiversity in agroecosystems. Reduced biodiversity can be problematic because fields with fewer natural enemies are likely to be more vulnerable to pests. An alternative to simplified agricultural production system is to incorporate plant diversity within a cropping system. Although there are several theories explaining the benefits of increasing plant diversity, I focus largely on complementarity. The theory of complementarity is that, by increasing plant species diversity within a system, the planted species would be able to more efficiently utilize available resources, or complement each other. Similarly, the resource concentration hypothesis is relevant because it states that herbivorous arthropods thrive in plant communities that are dense with their host plant species whereas their populations face more challenges when their preferred host plant species are less abundant, as one would find in more diverse cropping systems that support more robust populations of predators and parasitoids. The idea of complementarity is often applied to plant production, whereas the resource concentration hypothesis is largely descriptive of how arthropod populations are influenced by plant diversity. Therefore, I have incorporated both hypotheses in this thesis to predict how several cropping systems may benefit from various types of plant diversity. The first chapter focuses on intraspecies diversity in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) over three years of field study. I hypothesized that wheat grown in cultivar mixtures would have higher yields, better disease suppression and lower arthropod pests compared to plantings of single varieties. By growing each variety alone and mixing four varieties into one mixture, I was able to compare benefits of disease, arthropod community and yield. Overall, I did not find evidence that the mixture provided a higher yield, but was able to show that cultivar mixtures of wheat help suppress foliar diseases similar to that of chemical fungicides without negatively affecting yield or economic value. In my second chapter, I incorporated plant species diversity within a forage system to test how diversity could benefit an annual forage crop for improving biomass production or increasing economic return by reducing insect and disease pests and having greater stability from year to year compared to growing each species separate. Over a four-year field study, I compared seven treatments of species mixtures and monocultures of maize (Zea mays L.), soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) and sunflower (Helianthus annus L.) split with and without insecticide and measured the effects of species mixtures on insects, disease, yield and economic value. Although biomass was not increased in mixtures, partial return over variable costs was similar in the four-species mixture compared to maize or sorghum alone. There were low insect pests abundances and disease pressures overall. Finally, I also quantified detrimental effects of insecticides on arthropod communities, including natural enemies. The third chapter also focuses on a similar annual forage system as Chapter 2, including maize (Zea mays L.), soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) and sunflower (Helianthus annus L.), but addresses questions about weed suppression. Here, my study comprised a greenhouse component and two years of field research to evaluate weed suppression based on functional group of crops and weeds (broadleaves and grasses) as well as potential attraction of weed seed predators, specifically carabid beetles. Interestingly, I found both weed suppression and abundances of weed seed predators to be greatest in monocultures as opposed to a higher level of diversity within crop mixtures, indicating that competition rather than complementarity between crops, may have a larger role in these systems. The fourth chapter focuses on limitations I experienced in the application of interspecific mixtures including maize (Zea mays L.), soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) and sunflower (Helianthus annus L.) and how I modified and overcame challenges associated with mixtures in field research. My aim with this chapter was to encourage additional research and bridge scientific knowledge and research with the application of incorporating mixtures into large scale agronomic production systems. My final chapter presents research done over a single season within a coffee (Coffea arabica L.) system in Costa Rica. I evaluated the potential of shade tree diversity within coffee plantations to attract a larger diversity of arthropods, including predatory arthropods, to help control effects of a severe coffee pest, coffee berry borer (CBB; (Hypothenemus hampei) (Ferrari) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Scolytinae)). Although I was only able to show lower coffee berry borer infestation in May associated with shade trees compared to sun coffee, I also found an interesting correlation with an increase in CBB in proximity to sugarcane fields. I highlight some ways that coffee growers could mitigate immigration of CBB into their fields and reduce future generations of CBB.
Author: Andy Clark
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1437903797
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 248
Get Book Here
Book Description
Cover crops slow erosion, improve soil, smother weeds, enhance nutrient and moisture availability, help control many pests and bring a host of other benefits to your farm. At the same time, they can reduce costs, increase profits and even create new sources of income. You¿ll reap dividends on your cover crop investments for years, since their benefits accumulate over the long term. This book will help you find which ones are right for you. Captures farmer and other research results from the past ten years. The authors verified the info. from the 2nd ed., added new results and updated farmer profiles and research data, and added 2 chap. Includes maps and charts, detailed narratives about individual cover crop species, and chap. about aspects of cover cropping.
