Study of Mechanical-Chemical Synergistic Weeding on Characterization of Weed–Soil Complex and Weed Control Efficacy

Huimin Fang, Gaowei Xu, Xinyu Xue (), Mengmeng Niu and Lu Qiao
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Huimin Fang: Key Laboratory of Modern Agricultural Equipment, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Nanjing 210014, China
Gaowei Xu: Department of Automotive Engineering, Shandong Jiaotong University, Jinan 250357, China
Xinyu Xue: Key Laboratory of Modern Agricultural Equipment, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Nanjing 210014, China
Mengmeng Niu: Shandong Academy of Agricultural Machinery Sciences, Jinan 250100, China
Lu Qiao: Key Laboratory of Modern Agricultural Equipment, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Nanjing 210014, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Mechanical-chemical synergy has been proven efficient in weed control. However, characterizing the state of the weed–soil complex after mechanical weeding and revealing its effects on subsequent herbicide application is still challenging, which restricts the implementation of this technology. This paper first presents a method to characterize the state of the weed–soil complex from the perspectives of the fragmentation and composite characteristics. The regrowth of the weed–soil complex and the effects of complemented herbicide-reduced spraying on weed control efficacy and crop yield were then investigated. The results showed that the typical diameters of the weed–soil complexes were 10.67 cm and 2.82 cm after inter-row hoe shovel and intra-row finger weeding, respectively. There were mainly two and four weed–soil complex states after inter-row and intra-row weeding, respectively. The regrowth rate corresponding to the weed–soil complex state with the largest component proportion after inter-row and intra-row weeding was 76.91% and 18.37%, respectively. The additional chemical herbicide sprayed on the weed–soil complex significantly improved the fresh weight control efficacy of 95.12% for the preposed inter-row mechanical weeding and 138.07% for the preposed intra-row mechanical weeding in the maize silking stage. The maize yield of inter-row mechanical–75% chemical application treatment was 9.27% higher than that of chemical treatment. Mechanical weeding creates a suitable weed–soil complex state for subsequent chemical application and improves the synergistic weeding effect.

Keywords: integrated weeding management; soil fragmentation; composite state; weed regrowth; yield (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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