A review of the potential for competitive cereal cultivars as a tool in integrated weed management

A - Papers appearing in refereed journals

Andrew, I. K. S., Storkey, J. and Sparkes, D. L. 2015. A review of the potential for competitive cereal cultivars as a tool in integrated weed management. Weed Research. 55 (3), pp. 239-248. https://doi.org/10.1111/wre.12137

AuthorsAndrew, I. K. S., Storkey, J. and Sparkes, D. L.
Abstract

Competitive crop cultivars offer a potentially cheap option to include in integrated weed management strategies (IWM). Although cultivars with high competitive potential have been identified amongst cereal crops, competitiveness has not traditionally been considered a priority for breeding or farmer cultivar choice. The challenge of managing herbicide-resistant weed populations has, however, renewed interest in cultural weed control options, including competitive cultivars. We evaluated the current understanding of the traits that explain variability in competitive ability between cultivars, the relationship between suppression of weed neighbours and tolerance of their presence and the existence of trade-offs between competitive ability and yield in weed-free scenarios. A large number of relationships between competitive ability and plant traits have been reported in the literature, including plant height, speed of development, canopy architecture and partitioning of resources. There is uncertainty over the relationship between suppressive ability and tolerance, although tolerance is a less stable trait over seasons and locations. To realise the potential of competitive crop cultivars as a tool in IWM, a quick and simple-to-use protocol for assessing the competitive potential of new cultivars is required; it is likely that this will not be based on a single trait, but will need to capture the combined effect of multiple traits. A way needs to be found to make this information accessible to farmers, so that competitive cultivars can be better integrated into their weed control programmes.

Keywordscultural weed control; plant functional traits; suppression; tolerance
Year of Publication2015
JournalWeed Research
Journal citation55 (3), pp. 239-248
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1111/wre.12137
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
FunderBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Home-Grown Cereals Authority
Funder project or codeDelivering Sustainable Systems (SS) [ISPG]
BBSRC CASE Studentship: Competitive crop cultivars: optimising yield and sustainable weed suppression
Publisher's version
Copyright license
CC BY
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online26 Jan 2015
Publication process dates
Accepted18 Nov 2014
PublisherWiley
ISSN0043-1737

Permalink - https://repository.rothamsted.ac.uk/item/8v045/a-review-of-the-potential-for-competitive-cereal-cultivars-as-a-tool-in-integrated-weed-management

129 total views
28 total downloads
1 views this month
2 downloads this month
Download files as zip