Operational planning of herbicide-based weed management

Mariela V. Lodovichi, Aníbal M. Blanco, Guillermo R. Chantre, J. Alberto Bandoni, Mario R. Sabbatini, Mario Vigna, Ricardo López and Ramón Gigón

Agricultural Systems, 2013, vol. 121, issue C, 117-129

Abstract: Weeds cause crop yield loss due to competition, interfere with agricultural activities and reduce grain quality due to seed contamination. Among the numerous methods for weed control, the use of herbicides is the most common practice. Nowadays, the optimization of herbicide application is pursued to reduce the environmental impact, delay the appearance of herbicide-resistant weed populations, and improve the cost/benefit ratio of the agronomic business. This work proposes an operational planning model, aimed at calculating the optimal application times of herbicides in no-tillage systems within a growing season in order to maximize the economic benefit of the activity while rationalizing the intensity of the applications with respect to expert-knowledge-based recommendations. The model can decide on herbicide applications on a daily basis, consistent with timing of agricultural activities, and provides an explicit quantification of the environmental impact as an external cost. The proposed approach was tested on a winter wheat (Triticum aestivum)–wild oat (Avena fatua) system, typical of the semiarid region of Argentina. In all the studied scenarios at least two pre-sowing applications of non-selective herbicides were required to effectively control early emerging weed seedlings. Additional pre-sowing and post-emergence applications were also advised in cases when competitive pressure was significant.

Keywords: Weed management; Planning model; Herbicide applications; Environmental impact; Winter wheat; Wild oat (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X13000929
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agisys:v:121:y:2013:i:c:p:117-129

DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2013.07.006

Access Statistics for this article

Agricultural Systems is currently edited by J.W. Hansen, P.K. Thornton and P.B.M. Berentsen

More articles in Agricultural Systems from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().