Weed Species Trait Selection as Shaped by Region and Crop Diversity in Organically Managed Spring Cereals

Merel A. J. Hofmeijer, Bo Melander, Jukka Salonen, Anneli Lundkvist, Livija Zarina and Bärbel Gerowitt
Additional contact information
Merel A. J. Hofmeijer: Crop Health Group, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, Satower Strasse 48, 18051 Rostock, Germany
Bo Melander: Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Forsøgsvej 1, DK-4200 Slagelse, Denmark
Jukka Salonen: Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Tietotie 4, FI-31600 Jokioinen, Finland
Anneli Lundkvist: Department of Crop Production Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Ulls väg 16, 75651 Uppsala, Sweden
Livija Zarina: Crop Management Department, Institute of Agricultural Resources and Economics, Zinatnes 2, LV-4130 Priekuli, Latvia
Bärbel Gerowitt: Crop Health Group, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, Satower Strasse 48, 18051 Rostock, Germany

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 5, 1-17

Abstract: Weeds remain a challenge in organic arable farming, as well as supply ecosystem services. The aim is to control weed densities while hosting a diverse and manageable weed community, preventing domination of few deleterious species. Therefore, we want to understand how specific species are stimulated, and which traits are selected for. This study focuses on crop diversity hypothesizing that (1) regions and (2) crop diversity function as filters for specific weed species traits. We conducted a weed monitoring in spring cereals over 2 years on organic farms in five northern European regions. Management and weed trait variables collected for the occurring species allowed an RLQ fourth-corner analysis. The weed communities were regionally specific, but trait selection was not observed, except in Latvia. Hence, the regional species pool provided different species with similar traits. Crop diversity within the management of spring cereals, such as undersowing and cereal frequency in the rotation, affected weed traits. The number of years under organic production selected no traits, although species numbers are known to increase. Hence, general weed species diversity increased, irrespective of traits. We conclude that organic management may support the agility within the weed community against selection of species and act as a buffer rather than as filter.

Keywords: undersowing; winter catch crops; crop mixtures; arable flora; community assembly; Baltic area; northern Europe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/5/433/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/5/433/ (text/html)

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:gam:jagris:v:11:y:2021:i:5:p:433-:d:552036

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().