seed, seed, seed! managing weeds and reducing yield loss
TRANSCRIPT
Seed, Seed, Seed! Managing Weeds and Reducing Yield Loss in Flax
Lena Syrovy and Steve Shirtliffe
Part I – Cover Crops for Weed Control
Year 1 – Flax (without or with winter cereal)
Flax only (no cover crop)
Flax + Winter Barley Flax + Fall Rye
Flax + Winter Wheat
Photos: H.S.N. Duddu
Year 2 - Cereal
Flax only (no cover crop)
Flax + Winter Barley
Flax + Winter Wheat
Flax + Fall Rye
Weed Suppression
a
b
b
ab
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
Flax Flax + Fall Rye Flax + Winter Barley Flax + Winter Wheat
Wee
d B
iom
ass
(g m
-2)
Year 1 - Flax “suppression”
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Flax Flax + Fall Rye Flax + Winter Barley Flax + WinterWheat
Year
1 F
lax
Yiel
d (
kg h
a-1)
- 46%
No cover crop vs cover crop: P = 0.04
Year 2 – Cereal Yield
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
Flax/SW Flax/SR Flax + FR/FR Flax + WB/SW Flax +WW/WW
Year
2 C
ere
al Y
ield
(kg
ha-1
)
Reduced Cover Crop Seeding Rates
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
0.0 0.5 1.0
Flax
Yie
ld (
kg h
a-1)
Cover Crop Seeding Rate (prop of recommended)
b
b
a
1x = 200 targeted plants m-2
0.5x = 100 targeted plants m-2
P = 0.02
Flax + Winter Cereal
Flax only (no cover crop)
Flax + Winter Barley Flax + Fall Rye
Flax + Winter Wheat
Photos: H.S.N. Duddu
Part II – Mechanical Weed Control
Slide credit: O. Alba
Slide credit: O. Alba
10” row cultivation organic hemp
Kroeker Farms/Poplar Grove Organics
Slide credit: K. Stanley
Flax crop 5-10 cm or taller
Pre-emergence or after flax crop rooted
Slide credit: O. Alba
Crop Seeding Rate vs Weeds
70 plants m-2 140 plants m-2
280 plants m-2 560 plants m-2
Redlick et al., 2014, Weed Sci. 65(4): 525-533
All Plots Herbicide Free
IWM for organic flax
+ +
Increased crop seeding
rates
Rotary hoe Inter-row cultivation
IWM for organic flax
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
0 500 1000 1500 2000
Flax
Yie
ld (
kg h
a-1)
Seeding Rate (targeted plants m-2)
Control
Rotary Hoe
Inter-row
Rotary Hoe + Inter-row
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
0 500 1000 1500 2000
Wee
d B
iom
ass
(g m
-2)
Seeding Rate (targeted plants m-2)
Control
Rotary Hoe
Inter-row
Rotary Hoe + Inter-row
2.2 x
22%55%
33%
Flax Tolerance to Rotary Hoe
250 plants/m2 2000 plants/m2
Control Rotary hoe
Inter-row Combined
2000 plants/m2 seeding rate at Goodale
Inter-row Combined
Control Rotary hoe
250 plants/m2 seeding rate at Goodale
Photos: Y. Shen
250 plants/m2 seeding rate at Kernen
Control Rotary hoe
Inter-row Combined
Rotary hoeControl
Inter-row Combined
2000 plants/m2 seeding rate at Kernen
Photos: Y. Shen
Acknowledgements• Technical & Research Staff:
– Agronomy Research Crew: Shaun Campbell, Taryn Zdunich & many others
• Graduate and Undergraduate Students
– Quentin Lebastard, Oleksandr Alba, Yanben Shen