Spring wheat seed size and seeding rate affect wild oat demographics

Abstract

Wild oat continues to reduce spring wheat yields and profits despite the wide spread use of herbicides. Further reductions in the occurrence of wild oat could be achieved with the development of competitive cropping systems. Field studies were conducted to investigate the effects of wheat seed size and seeding rate on wild oat demographic processes under a range of wild oat densities. Spring wheat competitiveness increased as seed size and seeding rate increased, significantly reducing wild oat biomass and seed production. Averaged across all other factors, spring wheat plants derived from large seed reduced wild oat panicle numbers 15% and biomass and seed production 25% compared with small seed. Increasing spring wheat seeding rate from 175 to 280 plants m−2 reduced the number of panicles 10% and wild oat biomass and seed production 20%. The combined effect of large seed plus increased seeding rate reduced wild oat biomass and seed production 45%. Results demonstrate that the use of large seed size and increased seeding rates can improve wheat competitiveness and provide an effective means to reduce wild oat biomass and seed production.