Description:
Soil amelioration has gained great interest across the grainbelt over the past decade, including lime incorporation, burying repellent soils and disrupting compacted soil. However, relatively little is known about its impact on weeds or the weed seed bank.
In this project, DPIRD will work with growers on a series of field trials to better understand how soil amelioration techniques alter weed dynamics. This includes the impact of soil renovation on weed emergence, growth, seed bank ecology and crop-weed competition.
The research will provide insight into how key weed species respond to soil amelioration, in terms of altered soil physical and chemical characteristics. It will also inform how soil disturbance influences weed seed burial, seed degradation, the longevity of the seed bank, weed emergence patterns and the response to pre-emergent herbicides and fertilisers.
The project will also link with another Science Partnership project to examine how soil amelioration alters crop disease pressure and weed competition during the season.
The result will be a package of updated Integrated Weed Management strategies to better manage the timing and application of soil renovation during the year and in crop rotations to optimise long term weed control.
This project is part of a partnership with GRDC and DPIRD co-investment project ‘DAW1901-006RTX Increasing farming system profitability and longevity of benefits following soil amelioration’, as well as the Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative at The University of Western Australia.
Funding source:
RfR
Project code:
SPP01-2018/19