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Agronomy
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Innovative and Effective Weed Management for Sustainable Cropping Systems
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Innovative and Effective Weed Management for Sustainable Cropping Systems

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Weed Science and Weed Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2024) | Viewed by 11136

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Donato Loddo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CNR, Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection IPSP, National Research Council of Italy, Viale dell'Università 16, Padua, Italy
Interests: integrated weed management; seed germination; weed emergence; herbicide resistance; mechanical weed control; sustainable agriculture; organic farming
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In order to address the growing demand for agricultural products, weed management strategies in sustainable cropping systems should maintain the high control efficacy that is required to ensure high yields while minimizing environmental impacts. Several concurrent issues, such as the spread of herbicide-resistant biotypes and invasive species or the limited availability of new herbicides, are hindering this challenging task. Smart combinations, tailored to the different cropping systems, of both traditional and innovative control tactics seem the only feasible approach to achieve this ambitious goal.

This Special Issue will collect original articles and reviews aimed at evaluating the efficacy and improving the implementation of traditional or innovative weed control tools and tactics. Specific topics could include but are not limited to precision herbicide spraying, weed detection, mechanical and physical control, cover crops, bioherbicides, or harvest weed seed control. Studies testing combinations of diversified tactics will be appreciated. Articles describing multi-year experiments for the evaluation or implementation of innovative control tactics under real field conditions are particularly encouraged.

Dr. Donato Loddo
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • weeds
  • precision herbicide spraying
  • mechanical control
  • physical control
  • cover crops
  • bioherbicides
  • harvest weed seed control

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 4833 KiB  
Article
Effects of Weeding Frequency on the Yield and Quality of Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch in an Arid and Semi-Arid Area of Northwest China
by Dongqing Wang, Bin Ma, Hua Liu, Yangmei Bao, Ying Niu and Ming Li
Agronomy 2024, 14(3), 433; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14030433 - 23 Feb 2024
Viewed by 1101
Abstract
Weeds interfere with agricultural production activities worldwide and have a very serious impact on agriculture and animal husbandry. Identifying a safe and reliable weed control strategy may increase the yield and production net income, and improve crop quality. Licorice is one of the [...] Read more.
Weeds interfere with agricultural production activities worldwide and have a very serious impact on agriculture and animal husbandry. Identifying a safe and reliable weed control strategy may increase the yield and production net income, and improve crop quality. Licorice is one of the most popular traditional Chinese herbal medicines and has been used for over 2000 years in China. Liquiritin and glycyrrhizic acid are crucial active ingredients. A field experiment was carried out to explore the effects of weeding frequency on the yield and quality of Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch in an arid and semi-arid area of northwest China. The experiment consisted of seven treatments: (1) no weeding, marked as WF0, and (2)–(7) artificial weeding using a hoe once every 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 weeks after emergence, marked as WF1, WF2, WF4, WF6, WF8 and WF10, respectively. We found that a higher weeding frequency resulted in greater plant height, photosynthesis, yield and quality. The highest yield was obtained when the WF1 treatment was applied, while the cost of weeding was high among all treatments. The concentrations of liquiritin and glycyrrhizic acid were increased by 53.24% and 36.57%, with the highest nitrogen metabolism enzymatic activities and quality observed when the WF4 treatment was applied. The WF4 treatment resulted in the largest increase in the net income among all treatments in both growing seasons, with respective increases of up to 71.39% and 78.81%. These findings suggest that weeding once every four weeks could be an effective and sustainable measure to control weeds in an arid and semi-arid area. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative and Effective Weed Management for Sustainable Cropping Systems)
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14 pages, 2545 KiB  
Article
A Sensor-Based Decision Model for Precision Weed Harrowing
by Therese W. Berge, Frode Urdal, Torfinn Torp and Christian Andreasen
Agronomy 2024, 14(1), 88; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14010088 - 29 Dec 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1232
Abstract
Weed harrowing is commonly used to manage weeds in organic farming but is also applied in conventional farming to replace herbicides. Due to its whole-field application, weed harrowing after crop emergence has relatively poor selectivity and may cause crop damage. Weediness generally varies [...] Read more.
Weed harrowing is commonly used to manage weeds in organic farming but is also applied in conventional farming to replace herbicides. Due to its whole-field application, weed harrowing after crop emergence has relatively poor selectivity and may cause crop damage. Weediness generally varies within a field. Therefore, there is a potential to improve the selectivity and consider the within-field variation in weediness. This paper describes a decision model for precision post-emergence weed harrowing in cereals based on experimental data in spring barley and nonlinear regression analysis. The model predicts the optimal weed harrowing intensity in terms of the tine angle of the harrow for a given weediness (in terms of percentage weed cover), a given draft force of tines, and the biological weed damage threshold (in terms of percentage weed cover). Weed cover was measured with near-ground RGB images analyzed with a machine vision algorithm based on deep learning techniques. The draft force of tines was estimated with an electronic load cell. The proposed model is the first that uses a weed damage threshold in addition to site-specific values of weed cover and soil hardness to predict the site-specific optimal weed harrow tine angle. Future field trials should validate the suggested model. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative and Effective Weed Management for Sustainable Cropping Systems)
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18 pages, 4902 KiB  
Article
The Electric Spatula: Killing Weeds with Pulsed Microshocks from a Flat-Plate Electrode
by Daniel J. Bloomer, Kerry C. Harrington, Hossein Ghanizadeh and Trevor K. James
Agronomy 2023, 13(11), 2694; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13112694 - 26 Oct 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1621
Abstract
Seeking an easy-to-deploy, energy-efficient, non-herbicide weed control method, we tested a flat-plate electrode to apply pulsed electric microshocks (PMS) to a grass and four broadleaf weed species. The method can be deployed via a hand-held unit or as part of a fully automated [...] Read more.
Seeking an easy-to-deploy, energy-efficient, non-herbicide weed control method, we tested a flat-plate electrode to apply pulsed electric microshocks (PMS) to a grass and four broadleaf weed species. The method can be deployed via a hand-held unit or as part of a fully automated system to control escape weeds in field crops. The effectiveness of the treatments and the relative energy discharges when applying similar electric doses to the plant leaves or to the plant when pressed to the soil with a flat-plate electrode were compared. The method killed only half of the treated Lolium multiflorum “Winter Star” plants, well below our target rate, but significantly reduced growth rates and indicated that effective treatment of <1.0 MJ ha−1 for treating five plants m−2 is possible. Polygonum aviculare L., Amaranthus powellii S. Wats., Amaranthus deflexus, and Solanum nitidibaccatum Bitter plants were successfully controlled, with the energy required to kill 100% of seedlings varying from 0.1 to 0.9 MJ ha−1, indicating that broadleaf weeds are more susceptible. This easily met our target effectiveness and efficiency goals. The discharged energy increased when the electrode pressed the plant to a dry soil surface rather than to the leaves only and increased further when the electrode pressed the plant to a wet soil surface. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative and Effective Weed Management for Sustainable Cropping Systems)
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16 pages, 3374 KiB  
Article
Assessing Herbicide Efficacy of Pelargonic Acid on Several Weed Species
by Donato Loddo, Kishore Kumar Jagarapu, Elisa Strati, Giacomo Trespidi, Nebojša Nikolić, Roberta Masin, Antonio Berti and Stefan Otto
Agronomy 2023, 13(6), 1511; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13061511 - 30 May 2023
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3609
Abstract
Pelargonic acid is the most successful natural herbicide and can contribute to reducing synthetic herbicides, but information on its efficacy is contrasting. Given its high cost, a reduction of the rate could facilitate the spread of the use of this herbicide. Two greenhouse [...] Read more.
Pelargonic acid is the most successful natural herbicide and can contribute to reducing synthetic herbicides, but information on its efficacy is contrasting. Given its high cost, a reduction of the rate could facilitate the spread of the use of this herbicide. Two greenhouse and three field experiments were conducted to evaluate the herbicidal efficacy of different doses of pelargonic acid on several weeds (Abutilon theophrasti, Alopecurus myosuroides, Conyza sumatrensis, Lolium rigidum, Persicaria maculosa, Setaria pumila, Solanum nigrum). Results show that the efficacy of pelargonic acid is partial both in the greenhouse and field since the sensitivity of weed species is very variable, yet significant weed biomass reduction was observed in field application. Grass weeds, in particular A. myosuroides and L. rigidum, were less sensitive to pelargonic acid, with reduced and transient symptoms even at the highest doses. A large difference in sensitivity was also observed between dicots weeds, with P. oleracea, P. maculosa and A. theophrasti being less sensitive than C. sumatrensis and S. nigrum. The efficacy of pelargonic acid in field conditions depends on the botanical composition of weed flora and environmental conditions. Hot and dry conditions can promote leaf traits that decrease weed sensitivity by reducing herbicide penetration inside leaves. Despite its high cost, pelargonic acid can be a useful tool in an integrated multi-tactic strategy for sustainable weed management, while its use as a stand-alone tactic is less recommendable. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative and Effective Weed Management for Sustainable Cropping Systems)
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17 pages, 628 KiB  
Article
Phytotoxic Effects of Essential Oils from Six Lamiaceae Species
by Francesca Casella, Maurizio Vurro, Francesca Valerio, Enrico Vito Perrino, Giuseppe N. Mezzapesa and Angela Boari
Agronomy 2023, 13(1), 257; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13010257 - 14 Jan 2023
Cited by 29 | Viewed by 2770
Abstract
Essential oils produced by plants, and their components, could be sources of new natural herbicidal compounds. Thirteen oils extracted from six wild Lamiaceae species (namely Clinopodium suaveolens (Sm.) Kuntze, Satureja montana L. subsp. montana, Thymbra capitata (L.) Cav., Salvia fruticosa Mill. subsp. [...] Read more.
Essential oils produced by plants, and their components, could be sources of new natural herbicidal compounds. Thirteen oils extracted from six wild Lamiaceae species (namely Clinopodium suaveolens (Sm.) Kuntze, Satureja montana L. subsp. montana, Thymbra capitata (L.) Cav., Salvia fruticosa Mill. subsp. thomasii (Lacaita) Brullo, Guglielmo, Pavone & Terrasi, Satureja cuneifolia Ten., and Thymus spinulosus Ten.) from South Italy were tested in vitro for the phytotoxic activity to cress and branched broomrape seeds, tomato radicles, and lambsquarters leaf disks. Moreover, the possible correlation between oil composition and biological activity was evaluated. One of the oils from T. capitata inhibited cress germination by 96.4% at the lowest tested concentration (100 ppm) and reduced both chlorophyll and carotenoid content in lambsquarters leaf disks by around 50%. Some oils, particularly those from T. spinulosus, inhibited tomato radicle elongation by 85% at 1000 ppm. Many oils inhibited broomrape seed germination up to 100% when tested in solution at 1000 ppm or released as vapors. Among the oil components, α-terpinene, p-cymene, β-cis-ocimene, cis-sabinene hydrate, carvacrol methyl ether, and thymol were mostly correlated to the inhibition of cress seeds germination and tomato radicle elongation. The presence of thymol and p-cymene was also correlated to the inhibition of broomrape seed germination. Some of the tested essential oils or their components could have potential as pre-emergence herbicides and could be useful in the development of new weed control strategies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative and Effective Weed Management for Sustainable Cropping Systems)
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