Plant Soil Environ., 2013, 59(3):101-107 | DOI: 10.17221/599/2012-PSE

Impact of site-specific weed management on herbicide savings and winter wheat yieldOriginal Paper

P. Hamouz, K. Hamouzová, J. Holec, L. Tyšer

Department of Agroecology and Biometeorology, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

An aggregated distribution pattern of weed populations provides opportunity to reduce the herbicide application if site-specific weed management is adopted. This work is focused on the practical testing of site-specific weed management in a winter wheat and the optimisation of the control thresholds. Patch spraying was applied to an experimental field in Central Bohemia. Total numbers of 512 application cells were arranged into 16 blocks, which allowed the randomisation of four treatments in four replications. Treatment 1 represented blanket spraying and the other treatments differed by the herbicide application thresholds. The weed infestation was estimated immediately before the post-emergence herbicide application. Treatment maps for every weed group were created based on the weed abundance data and relevant treatment thresholds. The herbicides were applied using a sprayer equipped with boom section control. The herbicide savings were calculated for every treatment and the differences in the grain yield between the treatments were tested using the analysis of variance. The site-specific applications provided herbicide savings ranging from 15.6% to 100% according to the herbicide and application threshold used. The differences in yield between the treatments were not statistically significant (P = 0.81). Thus, the yield was not lowered by site-specific weed management.

Keywords: economic thresholds; patch spraying; weed control; cereals; yield loss; Triticum aestivum L.

Published: March 31, 2013  Show citation