Improved Weed Management and Functional Weed Biodiversity Under Conservation Methods (WP 4)

Weed management is often the most troublesome technical problem faced by organic farmers, who commonly keep weeds under control by ploughing and post-emergence mechanical methods.

Weed management is expected to become more challenging in organic systems based on reduced tillage, especially for perennial weed species.

The goal of this work package is to optimise weed management under conservation agriculture systems by adjusting three components:

• (a) crop sequence, including green manure/dead mulches and living mulches,
• (b) green manure destruction method and minimum tillage system for the subsequent cash crop, and
• (c) direct weed control in the cash crop.

Besides weed suppression, the different technical solutions will be evaluated with respect to changes in the composition and functional role of the weed community. This will extend the evaluation of the systems regarding the support of other ecosystem services (e.g. biological pest and disease control by increased crop diversity, biodiversity and soil fertility).

Contact

• Work package manager: Dr. Paolo Bàrberi, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna -(SSSA), Italy
• Deputy manager: Dr. Xavier Sans, University of Barcelona, Spain 

Tasks

• Task 4.1 Weed community dynamics and functional weed biodiversity
• Task 4.2 Improved weed suppression by innovative machines for direct weed control