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The aim of this project is to develop an integrated weed control strategy against annual weeds in spring oilseed rape by means of a combined mechanical and chemical weed control which will be performed concurrently and separately. The project encompasses field experiments in which different combinations of inter-row hoeing and intra-row herbicide treatments will be evaluated and compared to conventional weed control treatments with broadcast spraying of herbicides, and experiments in which an implement for concurrent inter-row hoeing and intra-row herbicide treatment will be refined and evaluated. In 2012, an implement for intra-row spraying combined with row hoeing was developed and evaluated in two field experiments in spring oilseed rape in the southern part of Sweden. The effects of inter-row hoeing, intra row spraying, and combination of the two methods were compared with conventional broadcast spraying. Preliminary results showed that the best weed control effects were obtained with the combination of inter-row hoeing and intra-row spraying in both experiments. Regarding crop yield, the yield was significantly higher in the combined treatment in one of the experiments while no effects on the yields were obtained in the other experiment. We envisage that the inter-row hoeing and intra-row herbicide treatment will diminish the overall use of herbicides to less than one third in comparison with the more conventional chemical weed control methods, while having the same weed control effect.

The aim of this study is to assess control effects of 2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid (MCPA) dosage, application timing and crop presence on the weed Cirsium arvense. Swedish farmers are recommended to control C. arvense chemically when most shoots are 10-20 cm tall, and mechanically at the compensation point (CP). Recent studies have shown that the CP occurs before shoots reach the three-leaf stage. We hypothesised that (i) herbicide application near the three-leaf stage gives the strongest control, (ii) crop presence increases herbicide effects, and (iii) a 50% herbicide dose gives the same effect as 100%. Treatments of the pot experiment consisted of MCPA 750; 0%, 50% and 100% of the recommended dose applied at leaf stages 3-8, with and without barley. The strongest control was obtained at four leaves and a maximum shoot height of 13 cm, using the recommended dose and with spring barley. In a field population, a maximum shoot height of 13 cm corresponded to a medium height of 6 cm. The 50% dose gave poorer control. Spraying with the recommended dose at the four-leaf stage reduced the development of C. arvense most effectively. Based on this, we recommend that herbicide spraying should be performed at earlier leaf stages/median heights than previously recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Below-ground (bg) shoot emergence rates ofSonchus arvensisare dependent on temperature and root weight. However, it is unknown to what extent this is due to a root depletion rate that depends on initial root weight, or due to differences in resource allocation to fine root and bg shoot growth. To resolve this, we retrieved data from an experiment in which plants were grown in the dark at constant temperature (4°C, 8°C, and 18°C) and harvested prior to or at shoot emergence. A dynamic mass-balance model, in which biomass of the initial root was allocated to bg shoot and fine root daily growth, and where respiration took place from all tissues, was used. The relative depletion rate of root biomass (RDR; d−1) and fraction of the depleted biomass allocated to bg shoots (SFRR) were estimated and calibrated to observed biomass. The RDR increased with initial root weight and temperature and SFFR was highest for light roots and lowest for heaviest roots, whereas the rest was allocated to fine root biomass. The length-to-biomass ratio of bg shoots decreased with initial root weight. Under between-year weather variations (2004–2010), the reduction in root biomass during the coldest April–May was simulated to be over 12 days delayed compared with the warmest spring. The influence of biomass allocation on bg shoot elongation of heavier roots was thus stimulated by a larger fraction of root biomass being depleted, but counteracted by a smaller fraction of it allocated into bg shoot elongation, compared with lighter roots. The complexity of shoot emergence based on root depletion estimates may be a reason why predictions based on only an accumulated root weight-specific temperature sum, as proposed by a previous study, are expected to be less uncertain than those based on root depletion estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To develop better mechanical management strategies, more information on the impact of root partitioning on generative reproduction ofSonchus arvensisL. is needed. Therefore, an outdoor experiment was performed in Sweden in 2008, to evaluate the effect of root fragmentation on generative reproduction ofS. arvensis. Two artificial populations ofS. arvensiswith the same total root length per area but with different initial root lengths and different numbers of root fragments were planted. Cumulative numbers of flower receptacles which had shed mature seeds over the season were assessed. Changes in the number of seeds per flower receptacle and average seed weight were monitored over time during the late season. Plants from long root fragments produced more flower receptacles than plants from short ones. Per area, however, the number of mature flower receptacles did not differ. The number of seeds per flower receptacle and individual seed weight were not affected by initial root length for the first cohort of shoots which sprouted from the initially planted roots. A second cohort, from roots produced during the season, resulted, irrespective of its initial root length, in fewer flower receptacles per plant and per area, with less seeds per receptacle, but with the same average seed weight as the first cohort. The number of seeds per flower receptacle was higher in mid-September than earlier or later. Average seed weight slightly decreased over time. The weight of seeds produced in early September was inversely related to the number of seeds per receptacle, but this trade-off disappeared over time. Root fragmentation alone in pure populations ofS. arvensisdoes not impede generative reproduction, but is likely to decrease input of seeds to the seed bank, when combined with crop competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To develop better mechanical management strategies, more information on the impact of root partitioning on changes in the population dynamics ofSonchus arvensisis needed. Therefore, the effects of root fragmentation ofS. arvensison shoot height frequency distributions, biomass production and nitrogen allocation were studied in an outdoor experiment in Sweden in 2008. Three artificial populations ofS. arvensisof different initial root lengths but with the same total root length per area were planted. Shoot heights were measured at the onset of flowering and dry weight and nitrogen content of leaves, stems, buds and roots were quantified twice during the season. Height frequency distributions of the populations were bimodal, indicating the existence of two generations distinctly different in height growth pattern. Shorter root fragments produced shoots with a lower mean height compared to longer fragments. Plants originating from longer root fragments had higher dry weight and more nitrogen compared to plants from shorter root fragments. Dry matter production per square meter did not differ between the populations. The proportion of dry matter and nitrogen allocated to the different plant components (leaves, stems, buds and roots) at harvest did not differ between the populations. Over time, nitrogen was reallocated from leaves and stems to roots. Our results show that initial root length ofS. arvensisper square meter, rather than the number of root fragments per square meter, is a good predictor of biomass at harvest, and that the degree of root fragmentation does not affect nitrogen allocation patterns. Root fragmentation, however, leads to a lower average canopy height forS. arvensis, and thus may be an effective weed control measure in combination with a crop which is competitive for light. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess emergence time of shoots from roots of the perennial weedSonchus arvensisas a function of root weight and soil temperature, we performed an experiment to which linear models were fitted. Root parts of three distinct initial weight classes were grown in pots in the dark at constant temperatures of 4, 8 and 18°C, respectively. During five harvest occasions, prior to or at shoot emergence, below-ground shoot length was measured. Root planting depth (3, 10 and 17 cm) did not influence shoot elongation rate. The below-ground shoot elongation rate for a given initial root-weight class was estimated from the observations to be constant with time, but to increase with temperature and initial root weight. By expressing shoot length for a given day as a linear function of the number of days from planting date, and elongation rate as a linear function of temperature, we calculated (1) the accumulated temperature-sum requirement for emergence, (2) emergence time for variable temperature conditions in a clay soil using soil temperature recordings at 5-cm depth for seven seasons in central Sweden and (3) the emergence time at three elevated temperature levels and initial root-weight classes. The accumulated temperature-sum requirements for below-ground shoots ofS. arvensisto reach soil surface are independent of temperature regime for roots of a given initial weight but lower for heavier than lighter roots. The temperature limit for below-ground shoot elongation to occur is about 2.0–2.5°C. Between-year variations in temperature under field conditions cause larger variation to emergence time than initial root-weight differences. An average temperature increase of 3°C would cause an earlier emergence time, in the same range (about 2 weeks) as the difference between the earliest and latest year in the current weather conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Changes in cropping systems during the past century have led to selective pressure on weed flora. Species and ecotypes with characteristics enabling them to survive in high-input farmland have increased in numbers, at the cost of plants lacking these characters. Since the 1950s, the perennial weed species Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop. and Sonchus arvensis L. have mainly been controlled by the herbicide group synthetic auxins like MCPA. During recent decades, C. arvense seems to have become less susceptible to MCPA in both Europe and North America but the reasons are unclear. To study the importance of selective pressure on weed ecotypes, both short- and long-term studies were carried out in Uppsala, Sweden. The first consisted of two growth-characteristic greenhouse experiments. The hypothesis was that ecotypes of C. arvense and S. arvensis from high-input farmland were different and displayed a more competitive growth pattern than did ecotypes from low-input farmland. The second study was a field experiment with four ecotypes of C. arvense from low-input farmland to study if selective pressure was in force, over a period of six years. The four ecotypes had different growth characteristics and herbicide sensitivity and they were exposed to crop competition and MCPA treatments during the experimental period. The hypothesis was that ecotypes with a more competitive growth pattern and MCPA tolerance would survive to a greater extent than would other ecotypes. For C. arvense, the results from the growth-characteristic experiment showed that the growth pattern of ecotypes from high-input farmland differed, showing a more directly elongated growth pattern with fewer spines on the leaves compared with ecotypes from low-input farmland, which usually were of rosette-type. Results from the field experiment with C. arvense showed that after six years MCPA-sensitive and/or rosette-type ecotypes had almost disappeared while ecotypes with a more directly elongated growth pattern and less sensitive to MCPA survived to a much greater extent. The conclusion was therefore that when exposed to selective pressure like crop competition and herbicide treatments, ecotypes of C. arvense with a more directly elongated growth pattern and less sensitive to herbicide treatment survived to a greater extent compared with ecotypes missing these traits. Ecotypes from high-input farmland had generally fewer leaf spines than did ecotypes from low-input farmland. This may suggest a trade-off between spine formation and rapid competitive growth. In the growth-characteristic experiment with S. arvensis, no differences between ecotypes from high- and low-input farmland regarding growth characteristics or leaf spines could be detected. This might partly be due to a lower exposure of S. arvensis to selective pressure compared with C. arvense, since S. arvensis generally is less sensitive to MCPA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past century, changes in cropping systems have led to selective pressure on weed flora. The number of competitive species with decreased susceptibility to herbicides has increased, at the cost of more susceptible species. For a long period, the economically important perennial weed species Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop. and Sonchus arvensis L. have mainly been controlled by the herbicide MCPA (phenoxy-acetic acid), which stimulates the weed plant to abnormal growth. However, it has been reported from Sweden, Great Britain, Hungary and North America that C. arvense has become less susceptible to MCPA since the 1950s. Therefore, two greenhouse experiments were performed at Uppsala, Sweden with clones of C. arvense and S. arvensis. The purpose was to study whether ecotypes (clones) from high input farmland, where herbicides had been used intensively and regularly for a long time, were less susceptible to herbicide (MCPA) treatment than ecotypes from low input farmland. Sixty clones of C. arvense and 36 clones of S. arvensis were treated with nine different doses of MCPA. The results supported the suggestion that a shift towards less MCPA-susceptible ecotypes of C. arvense had occurred on high input farmland. Clone material from such farmland had, on average, significantly higher dry matter content after herbicide treatment than ecotypes from low input farmland. Similar decrease in susceptibility was not detected for S. arvensis. This was probably due to S. arvensis generally being less susceptible to MCPA than C. arvense. Sonchus arvensis has therefore being exposed to a lower selection pressure than C. arvense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]