Small plot trials were carried out in years 2001-2003 with sugar beet. In the treatment without weed control, dry weight of sugar beet top and LAI of sugar beet were very low (approx. 50 g/m 2 and 0.5 m 2 /m 2 , respectively). Yield loss of sugar beet was 80-93%. Dominant weeds were Chenopodium album, Fumaria officinalis and Galium apari-ne. In the treatments where weeds were removed (by hand) until 4 leaf stage of sugar beet, dry weight of sugar beet top and LAI of sugar beet at first increased normally, but were markedly decreased from the half of the vegetation period. Yield loss of sugar beet was 54-28%. Dominant weed in this treatment was Amaranthus retroflexus. The development of sugar beet top dry weight and LAI of sugar beet was practically identical in the treatments where weeds were removed until 8-10 leaf stage of the crop and in those where weeds were removed during the whole vegetation period (500-900 g/m 2 , or 4-7 m 2 /m 2 , respectively). No yield loss of sugar beet was recorded. Dry weight of weeds did not exceed 30 g/m 2 and LAI 0.1 m 2 /m 2. A. retroflexus and Mercurialis annua were the most frequent weeds in this treatment.
Summary
A machine was built to kill reproductive plants (‘bolters’) in sugar beet by high‐voltage electricity. A generating system producing 10, 13 or 17 kV each at 54 kW was connected to a set of guarded electrodes spanning twelve rows, suspended 5–15 cm above the top of a sugar‐beet crop. With 13 kV the system travelling at 5 km h−1 could clear a light‐to‐moderate infestation of bolters at a rate of 2·4 ha h−1 with the tractor's diesel‐fuel consumption at 3·51 ha−1. In 1979, the electrothermal machine, used twice, reduced viable seed returns by 83%; the flail mower used once or twice by 44 and 76–84%; the wire reel mower used once or twice by 45 and 80–87%; and the roller chemical applicator used once by only 13%. Further trials were made in 1981 with an improved electrothermal machine, a rope wick applicator and a flail mower when all gave over 90% control of viable seeds. The electrothermal machine killed between 38 and 41% of bolters compared with 65% for the chemical applicator. The flail mower did not kill any plants.
Although possessing many advantages, the electrothermal machines are heavy and more expensive than alternative methods. Development has ceased in the U.K. on electrical weed control but one company in the U.S.A. is selling such equipment.
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