Innovation in mechanical weed control in crop rows

Abstract

SummaryWeed control within crop rows is one of the main problems in organic farming. For centuries, different weed removal tools have been used to reduce weeds in the crop rows. Stimulated by the demand from organic farmers, research in several European countries over the last decade has focused on mechanisation using harrowing, torsion finger weeding and weeding with compressed air (Pneumat). Intelligent weeders are now being developed which offer more advanced ways to control weeds, including larger ones and to leave the crop plants unharmed. One of the first commercially available intelligent weeders, the Sarl Radis from France, has a simple crop detection system based on light interception, which guides a hoe in and out of the crop row, around the crop plants. The inclusion of innovative technologies, including advanced sensing and robotics, in combination with new cropping systems, might lead to a breakthrough in physical weed control in row crops leading to significant reductions, or even elimination, of the need for hand weeding.

The influence of non-living mulch, mechanical and thermal treatments on weed population and yield of rainfed fresh-market tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.)

“…The labour demand for hand weeding in mechanical-thermal and biodegradable plastic mulch strategies was on averagẽ 9 h ha -1 . The same value was presented in Van der Weide et al (2008) for transplanted onion when hoeing plus finger weeding was applied. Dry weed biomass data collected during our trial were on average lower than those collected by Anzalone et al (2010) in tomato, however Anzalone and co-workers did not implement hand or mechanical weeding when mulching was applied, the crop was irrigated, the variety was different (Perfect Peel) and data were collected 63 days after transplanting rather than at harvest time.…”

“…The precision hoe, which was used only within the mechanical-thermal strategy, reduced the number of weeds by 70% after tomato transplanting. However working very close to the crop row requires a guidance system, which in turn leads to a low working speed ( Van der Weide et al, 2008), which in our case was about 1.5 km h -1 . No significant differences were observed regarding the results achieved on weed dry biomass at harvest.…”

“…Intra-row tools such as finger and torsion weeders are used to selectively remove weeds from the crop rows (Cloutier et al, 2007). If equipped with fingers and torsion weeders, inter-row machines can also perform the intra-row control of small weeds in many crops and in several growth stages (Van der Weide & Bleeker, 2011). Raffaelli et al (2011) successfully used three different machines as part of a weed management system in processing tomato.…”

Effect of Aqueous Extracts of Sticky Willy (Galium aparine L.) on the Growth of Seedlings of Selected Maize Varieties (Zea mays L.)

“…Occurrence of weeds depend on a biological properties, environmental factors, applied technologies, and types of crops (Mačák et al, 2008;Van der Weide et al, 2008). Among other, 521 a new mechanical technologies and agro-technical methods apply in agriculture facilitate the dispersion of weeds.…”

Herbicide Reduction Methods

“…Since controlling weeds with mechanical tools generally is a trade-off between weed control and crop damage due to cultivation, post-emergence cultivation must be combined with pre-emergence methods to overcome the poor selectivity (Melander et al, 2005). Cultivating tools like harrows and hoes may be used for cultivating row crops, and also small grain cereals or legumes (Jensen et al, 2004;van der Weide et al, 2008). Weed harrowing is carried out on the whole crop area and hoeing is applied inter-row, however, crop plants may also be affected (Melander et al, 2005).…”