Interference and Economic Threshold Level of Transgenic Volunteer Soybean Plants in Maize Crop

Abstract

The interference caused by volunteer plants dispersed after harvest can cause economic losses to growers. This work aims to identify the competitive ability and the economic threshold level of maize hybrids in different densities of volunteer soybean. The experiment was carried out in the field, in a randomized blocks design, with one replication. The treatments were maize hybrids (NK 422 Vip3; NK 488 Vip3; Syn Supremo Vip3; Brevant 2A401 PWU; FS 481 PW; e FS 620 PWU) and 12 densities of volunteer soybean established for each hybrid, going from 0 to maximum of 130 plants m -2 . At 30 days after emergence, were assessed the plant density (PD), soil cover (SC), leaf area (LA), and shot dry mass (SDM) of volunteer soybean plants. The maize hybrids NK 488 Vip3, Syn Supremo Vip3, and Brevant 2A401 PWU showed the highest competitive abilities that influenced economic threshold levels that ranged from 1,01 to 3,82 plants m -2 . Thus, it concluded that volunteer soybean causes yield losses when infesting maize, and hybrids show different competitive abilities, being the economic threshold level directly influenced by these characteristics.