“Strategies of Weed Control in Organic Farming” (WECOF)

The aim of the WECOF project is to improve the efficiency of weed control in Organic Farming. The model crop is winter wheat. A primary objective is to optimise the natural competitiveness of winter wheat in reducing weed growth, and thus reduce the need for direct weed control. <br /><br /><br />The ability of wheat to compete with weeds was measured by parameters of plant development and shading ability, night-time tillage and sunflowers’ allelopathy within trials conducted on winter wheat in Germany, Poland, Scotlandand Spain. The economic efficiency of the tested weed control methods were analysed at both farm and society level. <br />&nbsp;<br />In the first phase of the project a core experimental programme with three-factorial field trials (row width, drilling direction, cultivars with different leaf inclination) has been carried out on different sites in the partner countries. The ability of wheat to compete with weeds has been measured by parameters of plant development (e.g. leaf area index) and shading ability (e.g. light penetration). A model weed has been used to compare the efficiency of the different treatments.&nbsp; <br />Additional trials on indirect weed control will be performed including night-time tillage (photocontrol) and precrop cultivation of sunflowers (allelopathy). The efficiency of night-time tillage is intended to be improved by examining the different influence factors taking special consideration of soil and weed seed characteristics. Allelopathic compounds of sunflower and buckwheat has been identified and tested in greenhouse and field trials. <br />Results have been collected and evaluated in a central data bank. Based on these results a model has been developed, where crop architecture, husbandry, rotational and other management factors will be combined. The final strategies were integrated in a Decision Support System (DSS) to assist advisers and farmers in selecting site specific strategies for effective weed control. Varietal differences identification allowed the development of a guide for breeders to select wheat varieties as to their potential usefulness for suppression of weed growth was developed.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.wecof.uni-bonn.de/"><br />http://www.wecof.uni-bonn.de/</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></meta><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"></meta><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"></meta><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"></meta><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CBOTARE%7E1%5CIMPOST%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"></link><!–[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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