Abstract
Weed infestations and associated yield losses require effective weed control measures in soybean and sugar beet. Besides chemical weed control, mechanical weeding plays an important role in integrated weed management systems. Field experiments were conducted at three locations for soybean in 2013 and 2014 and at four locations for sugar beet in 2014 to investigate if automatic steering technologies for inter-row weed hoeing using a camera or RTK-GNSS increase weed control efficacy, efficiency and crop yield. Treatments using precision farming technologies were compared with conventional weed control strategies. Weed densities in the experiments ranged from 15 to 154 plants m−2 with Chenopodium album, Polygonum convolvulus, Polygonum aviculare, Matricaria chamomilla and Lamium purpureum being the most abundant species. Weed hoeing using automatic steering technologies reduced weed densities in soybean by 89% and in sugar beet by 87% compared to 85% weed control efficacy in soybean and sugar beet with conventional weeding systems. Speed of weed hoeing could be increased from 4 km h−1 with conventional hoes to 7 and 10 km·h−1, when automatic steering systems were used. Precision hoeing technologies increased soybean yield by 23% and sugar beet yield by 37%. After conventional hoeing and harrowing, soybean yields were increased by 28% and sugar beet yield by 26%.
Highlights
Soybean and sugar beet are both very sensitive to weed competition with yield losses of 15%–40%in soybean [1] and 77% in sugar beet [2] recorded even at low weed densities of 5 plants m−2
When averaged over all treatments, weed hoeing using automatic steering technologies reduced weed densities in soybean by 89% and in sugar beet by 87% compared to 85% weed control efficacy in soybean and sugar beet with conventional weeding systems (Figure 1)
Hoeing in soybean resulted in higher weed control efficacy at a speed of 7 and 10 km h−1 compared to 4 km h−1 without causing crop damage, when automatic steering systems were applied
Summary
Soybean and sugar beet are both very sensitive to weed competition with yield losses of 15%–40%in soybean [1] and 77% in sugar beet [2] recorded even at low weed densities of 5 plants m−2. Soybean and sugar beet are both very sensitive to weed competition with yield losses of 15%–40%. In addition to yield losses, weeds in soybean and sugar beet reduced crop quality, complicated harvest and served as hosts for insect pests and diseases pathogens [3]. [4,5] are most frequent in sugar beet; Echinochloa crus-galli L., Chenopodium album L., Amaranthus retroflexus L. and Solanum nigrum L. are the main weeds listed in soybean [6]. Under European cropping conditions, weed control in soybean and sugar beet is mostly performed by combinations of pre-emergent and post-emergent herbicide applications [4,7,8]. The studies of Wilson [9] showed that different post-emergence herbicides reduced sugar beet leaf area up to 29% in case of two triflusulfuron applications. The use of ethofumesate plus desmedipham plus phenmedipham resulted in a 22%
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