Weed Suppression Ability and Yield Impact of Living Mulch in Cereal Crops

Roland Gerhards
Additional contact information
Roland Gerhards: Department of Weed Science, University of Hohenheim, 70593 Stuttgart, Germany

Agriculture, 2018, vol. 8, issue 3, 1-7

Abstract: Intercropping provides several benefits to the agro-ecosystem and plays an important role in Integrated Weed Management (IWM). In this study, we investigated the impact of living mulch in cereal crops on weed density and grain yield. Seven field experiments were conducted in Southwestern Germany. Perennial ryegrass and white clover were sown on the same day as the cereal crop (early) and when cereals had produced 3–5 leaves or the first tillers (late). Average weed density in the control plots without living mulch was 45 weeds m −2 . Perennial ryegrass and white clover significantly reduced weed density to 22 plants m −2 and 25 plants m −2 . Sowing date of living mulch had no effect on weed density. Grain yield was equal in all treatments. The results show that living mulch can suppress weeds without competing with the cereal crop.

Keywords: living mulch; undersown crop; Integrated Weed Management (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: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/8/3/39/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/8/3/39/ (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:8:y:2018:i:3:p:39-:d:135906

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 ().