In recent years there has been increasing interest in short-rotation poplar plantations for biomass production and cropping techniques and weed control strategies are being developed. Slow initial poplar growth can favour weed infestation and so there is a need for appropriate timing of weed control, based on an understanding of the competitive relationship and dynamics between poplar and weeds. A field experiment with annual and biennial crop cycles was conducted over two years. A 35 cm wide within-row weedy strip was allowed to develop as the basis for competition. Yield data were fitted with sigmoidal equations, in order to find the critical point (CP) and critical period of weed control (CPWC), using thermal time as the independent variable. Results showed that poplar is very sensitive to weed competition, especially in the first growing season after planting or cutting, and that competition can cause important yield losses. In the annual cycle, the CP corresponds to a yield loss of 26% and 8% in the first and second growing season respectively; in the biennial cycle the CP corresponds to a yield loss of 29%. Furthermore, the CPWC is long. For example, in the first year, based on a 5% yield loss, it lasts from 30 to 84 days after planting. This makes effective weed control difficult to achieve only using a pre-emergence herbicide, and thus necessitates a post-emergence treatment, either with herbicides or inter-row cultivation. These results, together with the inability of the crop to recover from damage, mean that resources must be invested in weed control soon after the beginning of the cropping cycle

Weed-poplar competition dynamics and yield loss in Italian short-rotation forestry

ZANIN, GIUSEPPE
2010

Abstract

In recent years there has been increasing interest in short-rotation poplar plantations for biomass production and cropping techniques and weed control strategies are being developed. Slow initial poplar growth can favour weed infestation and so there is a need for appropriate timing of weed control, based on an understanding of the competitive relationship and dynamics between poplar and weeds. A field experiment with annual and biennial crop cycles was conducted over two years. A 35 cm wide within-row weedy strip was allowed to develop as the basis for competition. Yield data were fitted with sigmoidal equations, in order to find the critical point (CP) and critical period of weed control (CPWC), using thermal time as the independent variable. Results showed that poplar is very sensitive to weed competition, especially in the first growing season after planting or cutting, and that competition can cause important yield losses. In the annual cycle, the CP corresponds to a yield loss of 26% and 8% in the first and second growing season respectively; in the biennial cycle the CP corresponds to a yield loss of 29%. Furthermore, the CPWC is long. For example, in the first year, based on a 5% yield loss, it lasts from 30 to 84 days after planting. This makes effective weed control difficult to achieve only using a pre-emergence herbicide, and thus necessitates a post-emergence treatment, either with herbicides or inter-row cultivation. These results, together with the inability of the crop to recover from damage, mean that resources must be invested in weed control soon after the beginning of the cropping cycle
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11577/2428754
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