Search Results
The effects of two cover crops [cereal rye (Secale cereale L.) and oat (Avena sativa L.)], four tillage systems [no tillage (NT), strip tillage (ST), conventional tillage with cover crops incorporated (CTC), and conventional tillage without cover crop (CTN)], and three pre-emergence herbicide rates (full rate, half rate, and no herbicide) on pickling cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) growth and production, weed populations, and the incidence of pythium fruit rot were studied. Weed infestations, cucumber establishment, and cucumber leaf chlorophyll content were similar between the rye and oat treatments. However, the oat treatment had higher cucumber fruit number and weight and a lower percentage of cucumber fruit infected with Pythium spp. compared with the rye treatment. The NT and CTC systems reduced cucumber stand and leaf chlorophyll content, but had equivalent cucumber fruit number and weight compared with CTN. The NT and ST had lower weed biomass and weed density than CTN and CTC. The NT also reduced the percentage of cucumber fruit affected with pythium compared with CTN and CTC. Reducing the pre-emergence herbicide rate by half did not affect weed control or cucumber fruit yield compared with the full rate. However, weeds escaping herbicide application were larger in the half-rate treatment. The experiments indicate that with the integration of cover crops and conservation tillage, it is possible to maintain cucumber yield while reducing both herbicide inputs (by 50%) and the incidence of fruit rot caused by Pythium spp. (by 32% to 60%).
Field studies were conducted in 2003 and 2004 to determine effects of withholding irrigation on pepper (Capsicum annuum) plant height, leaf chlorophyll content, yield, and irrigation water use efficiency. Irrigation treatments were initiated at pepper transplanting (S0), after transplant establishment (S1), at first flower (S2), at first fruit (S3), or at fruit ripening (S4). The control treatment received only enough water to apply fertigation (FT). Withholding irrigation did not affect pepper plant height except FT treatment, but increased leaf chlorophyll content. Withholding irrigation until S4 saved 50% and 41% of irrigation water in 2003 and 2004, respectively, without affecting fruit yield compared with the treatment where irrigation started at transplanting. However, yield in the FT treatment was significantly reduced. Irrigation water use efficiency (pepper yield per unit area per millimeter of water applied) was maximum at S4 (59.1 kg·ha−1 per millimeter) and S3 (24.1 kg·ha−1 per millimeter) in 2003 and 2004, respectively. Similar trends in response of pepper to the irrigation treatments were observed in 2003 and 2004 even though there were large differences in rainfall, and pepper yield between years. This suggests that withholding irrigation until first fruit may help to maintain pepper yield while reducing irrigation costs. However, it is important to have adequate soil moisture at transplanting to insure adequate transplant establishment.
The effects of cover crops on nutrient cycling, weed suppression, and onion (Allium cepa) yield were evaluated under a muck soil with high organic matter in Michigan. Four brassica cover crops, including brown mustard (Brassica juncea ‘Common brown’), oilseed radish (Raphanus sativus ‘Daikon’), oriental mustard (B. juncea ‘Forge’), and yellow mustard (Sinapis alba ‘Tilney’), as well as sorghum sudangrass (Sorghum bicolor × S. sudanense ‘Honey Sweet’) produced similar amount of biomass and recycled similar amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. The brassica cover crop biomass contained more calcium, sulfur, and boron, but less magnesium, iron, manganese, copper, and zinc than sorghum sudangrass. However, soil fertility was generally similar regardless of whether a cover crop was used. This was mainly because the soil was sampled when most of the cover crop residue was not yet decomposed. Weed density during onion growth was reduced by all cover crops compared with the control with no cover crop, with yellow mustard treatment having the lowest weed density among the cover crops. Weed species composition was also significantly affected by the cover crops. Yellow mustard treatment had the lowest density of common purslane (Portulaca oleracea) and redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus), whereas sorghum sudangrass had the highest yellow nutsedge (Cyperus esculentus) density among all the treatments. However, weed suppression was not enough to eliminate normal control strategies. The brassica cover crops, especially oilseed radish and yellow mustard, increased onion stand count and marketable yield. These results suggest that brassica and sorghum sudangrass cover crops could provide multiple benefits if incorporated into short-term onion rotations under Michigan growing conditions.
The effect of summer cover crop and management system on subsequent fall romaine lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) and spring muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) growth and yield was evaluated in the Coachella Valley of California from 1999 to 2003. Cover crop treatments included: 1) cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] incorporated into the soil in the fall (CPI), 2) cowpea used as mulch in the fall (CPM), 3) sudangrass [Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench] incorporated into the soil in the fall (SGI), and 4) a bare ground control (BG). Management system treatments included: 1) conventional system (CON), 2) integrated crop management (ICM), and 3) organic system (ORG). Cowpea cover crop, either incorporated or used as surface mulch, increased lettuce growth and yield by increasing biomass allocation to lettuce leaf and leaf area growth. Cowpea mulch decreased muskmelon leaf and biomass growth and reduced muskmelon yield. Sudangrass produced more biomass than cowpea and reduced lettuce growth and yield. However, in the following spring, the SGI treatment had the highest muskmelon yield. Lettuce growth was significantly affected by management system, while muskmelon growth at the early stage was unaffected. The organic system reduced both lettuce and muskmelon yield compared with CON and ICM management systems.
The low availability and high cost of farm hand labor make automated thinners a faster and cheaper alternative to hand thinning in lettuce (Lactuca sativa). However, the effects of this new technology on the uniformity of plant spacing and size as well as crop yield are not proven. Three experiments were conducted in commercial romaine heart lettuce fields in 2013 and 2014 in Imperial Valley, CA, to compare the effects of automated thinning and hand thinning on uniformity of in-row spacing, plant size, and crop yield. Overhead images taken at 1 week after hand thinning indicate that thinning 8 to 11 days earlier by automated thinners did not affect plant size compared with the hand thinning treatment. However, lettuce plants in the automated thinning treatment were larger than plants in the hand thinning treatment 2 to 3 weeks after hand thinning. Automated thinners increased the uniformity of in-row spacing, increased the percentage of plants with the desired in-row spacing of 24 to 32 cm, and almost completely removed plants with an undesirable in-row spacing of 4 to 20 cm. As a result, individual lettuce plant weight and heart weight from the automated thinning plots was significantly greater and plants were more uniform compared with the hand thinned plants. Despite increases in lettuce plant size and uniformity in all three experiments, yield benefits of automated thinning were only significant in one of the three experiments due to larger plant populations resulting from hand thinning. This study suggests that automated thinning increases lettuce plant size and uniformity and makes it possible for growers to increase plant population and crop yield by optimizing in-row spacing.
Competitive cover crop varieties are needed to reduce weed problems and herbicide use. Identifying specific crop traits related to competitive ability would provide breeders with useful information that could be used to develop an ideotype for highly competitive cover crop varieties. Cowpea varieties with different growth habits were grown with sunflower or purslane to determinate which growth habit (erect, semi-erect, and prostrate) is more likely to be most competitive with tall or short growing weeds. Regression models were used to analyze additive and replacement series experiments. The results showed that erect varieties were more competitive with weeds than semi-erect varieties and prostrate varieties. However, the simple regression models did not provide much information about competitive mechanisms helpful to breeders. An ecophysiological model, INTERCOM, was used to understand competitive mechanisms. Validated INTERCOM model provided us with more information about competitive cover crop traits, including competitive growth habit.
Ecophysiological simulation models provide a quantitative method to predict the effects of management practices, plant characteristics, and environmental factors on crop and weed growth and competition. The INTERCOM interplant competition model was parameterized, calibrated by monoculture data for three cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) genotypes that differed in growth habit, common sunflower (Helianthus annuus), and common purslane (Portulaca oleracea), and used to simulate competition of cowpea cover crops with sunflower or purslane. The simulation results were compared with observations from field competition experiments in 2003 and 2004. INTERCOM did not simulate biomass production and leaf area index (LAI) of cowpea and purslane well, probably due to a lack of published data on purslane physiology. INTERCOM simulated the competition of cowpea genotypes and sunflower accurately. The simulation model of cowpea and sunflower at two densities was used to study the effects of cowpea growth habits on final biomass production of cowpea and sunflower. The model suggested that the erect growth habit was more competitive than the semi-erect and prostrate growth habits when cowpea genotypes were grown with sunflower. Cowpea leaf area distribution was important to higher cowpea biomass production, while cowpea height growth was important to reduce sunflower biomass.