the use of more competitive species and cultivars in small grain cereal production may help to develop production systems that require less herbicide. this study was designed to identify root and shoot characteristics of cereal seedlings that would allow distinguishing the more competitive (mc) cultivars from the less competitive (lc) ones. two growth cabinet trials were conducted using four cr...

The crop chosen for this study is chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) as the fourth most important legume in Australian agriculture (FAOSTAT 2004). One of the major obstacles in growing this crop is its poor competitive ability with weeds, which leads to significant reductions in yield. The best method to control weeds in crops such as chickpea is through the use of integrated weed management (IWM). ...

With the increasing pressure on crop production from the evolution of herbicide resistance, farmers are increasingly adopting Integrated Weed Management (IWM) strategies to augment their weed control. These include measures to increase the competitiveness of the crop canopy such as increased sowing rate and the use of more competitive cultivars. While there are data on the relative impact of th...

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, re...

Numerous plant species are considered weeds in agronomic cropping systems. Weeds have many attributes undesirable to crop producers, not the least being the ability to reduce crop yields through competition for resources such as sunlight, water, nutrients, and space. Weeds also may harbor insects and provide a host for certain plant pathogens. Some weed species, such as wild garlic and eastern ...

Weed management systems that rely less on chemical control are needed globally. Next to curative chemical weed control, there are other ways of tackling weed problems, such as (a) reduction of the weed seed bank in the soil, (b) reduced recruitment of weed seeds from the soil seed bank, and (c) strengthening the relative competitive ability of the crop. A number of case studies are presented in...