Spring-Planted Winter Rye (Secale cereale) as a Living Mulch to Control Weeds in Soybean (Glycine max)

Abstract

The effects of rye planting time, rye seeding rate, and rye/weed management systems on weed control and soybean yield were determined in field experiments near Arlington, WI from 1992 to 1994. Insufficient precipitation in 1992 resulted in limited soil moisture, less ground cover, less weed control, and lower soybean yields than in 1993 and 1994. The higher rye seeding rate provided more ground cover and better weed control than the lower rate in all years; however, it reduced soybean vigor. The optimum rye seeding rate was 112 kg/ha. The rye-only system reduced weed shoot biomass by 90, 82, and 60%, in 1992, 1993, and 1994, respectively, relative to the no-rye weedy check treatment. Killing rye 45 d after planting soybean gave optimum weed control. In 1993, rye alone suppressed the weeds without decreasing crop yield, but in 1994 crop yield was decreased due to inadequate weed control by rye. The results indicate that the rye living mulch technique can adequately control weeds without causing soybean yield reduction if weed pressure is low, ground cover and soil moisture are adequate and rye interference is minimal.

Integrated Palmer Amaranth Management in Glufosinate-Resistant Cotton: I. Soil-Inversion, High-Residue Cover Crops and Herbicide Regimes

“…Several studies on cover crops have reported excellent early-season weed control that can preclude the use of preemergence herbicides in crops [39,41,[52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59]. However, the success of a cover crop in early-season weed suppression is determined by the biomass production potential which varies with year, location and management practices [37,48,53,56,60]. It has been observed that cereal rye residue alone was effective in reducing the glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth emergence by 94% in the row middle and 50% within the row [34].…”

Spring-Interseeded Winter Rye Seeding Rates Influence Weed Control and Organic Soybean Yield

“…Winter rye residue suppresses weeds physically through interference and chemically with allelopathic compounds that delay weed emergence [18][19][20]. However, winter rye residue cannot provide full-season weed suppression [16,17,21,22]. When used in an organic production system, winter rye has suppressed weeds through physical interference as a living mulch, but this system may also decrease crop grain yields [6,11,23].…”

“…Management of rye 2 International Journal of Agronomy using cultivation was necessary to minimize yield reductions, particularly in dry years, because no alternative methods exist to control rye in organic soybean. Winter rye requires a vernalization period before jointing and flowering, and it commonly dies under summer stress [11,21]. Interseeding winter rye in spring may promote a synergistic relationship with soybean, while restricting rye to vegetative growth.…”

Yield losses of soybean and maize by competition with interseeded cover crops and weeds in organic-based cropping systems

“…Some studies conducted the inclusion of interseeded cover crops into crop production systems in snowy-cold region (Hartl, 1989;, where most cover crops sown in the previous fall can not survive winter because of snow falling or can not produce enough biomass to suppress weeds. However, interseeded cover crops also sometimes reduce growth of main crops mainly because of direct competition between cover crops and main crops (Scott et al, 1987;DeHaan et al, 1994;Ateh and Doll, 1996). For instance, den Hollander et al (2007) indicated that yield reduction of leek (Allium porrum L.) is mainly caused by competition for light between leek and interseeded clovers.…”