Herbicidal Activity of Rotation Crop Residues on Weeds and Selectivity to Crops

Abstract

Allelopathic activity of rotation crop residues to common weeds and selectivity of crops were studied for developing an alternative weed control strategy in upland organic farming. All rotation crop residues with various ratios suppressed weed growth, but the growth of crop species stimulated a little when those were grown with the mixture of rotation crop residues except a few crop species. Among the rotation crop residues used in this study hairy vetch was the most effective, followed by Chinese milkvetch, barley and rye in suppression of weed growth. The 90:10 (crop:soil, v/v) treatments incorporation rate of crop residues such as hairy vetch and Chinese milkvetch suppressed completely the growth of all weed species tested in this study. The effect of crop residues on suppression of weed growth reduced to 90% when the incorporation rates decreased to 60% [60:40 (crop:soil, v/v). It was noticed that broadleaf weed species were more susceptible to rotation crop residues than grass weed species. In the influence of crop residues on the crop growth, no growth inhibition was found in red pepper, lettuce and perllia at any incorporation rates, but tomato, cucumber and corn were slightly inhibited in a few cases at their highest incorporation levels. This study demonstrated that rotation crop residues especially hairy vetch and Chinese milkvetch have high herbicidal effects against weeds without inhibiting the growth of crop species.