by George Jared (gjared@talkbusiness.net)
Herbicide resistant weeds are a significant threat to the Arkansas agriculture sector and scientists with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station are about to study new methods for dealing with this problem. Catching weed seeds before they start a new generation of herbicide-resistant plants is the tactic behind a relatively new method in the U.S. that weed scientists in Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri have partnered to investigate.
“When you take a look at weed management in general, it’s all really centered around soil seed bank management,” said Jason Norsworthy, Distinguished Professor of weed science with the experiment station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “If we can drive those soil seedbanks down it’s going to benefit us in terms of the future populations or densities we have in those fields as well as lessening the risk of herbicide resistance evolution and spread.”
The seeds can be caught in the chaff and crushed by a seed mill or laid down in a “chaff line” to consolidate and create a mulching effect, Norsworthy said.
