Survival of weed seeds subjected to sheep rumen digestion

Abstract

Haidar MA, Gharib C & Sleiman FT (2010). Survival of weed seeds subjected to sheep rumen digestion. Weed Research50, 467–471. Summary An experiment was conducted to examine the effect of sheep rumen digestion on the viability of the seeds of eight weed and two crop species common in Lebanon. Seed samples were put in small monofilament polyester bags and placed in the rumen of fistulated sheep for 1, 2, 3 and 4 days. The viability of the seeds 4 days after placement in the rumen was 85% for Cuscuta campestris, 76% for Amaranthus retroflexus, 31% for Convolvulus arvensis, 17% for Chenopodium album, 10% for Eleusine indica, and 1.3% for Setaria viridis, compared with the control. Seeds of Lolium multiflorum and Raphanus raphanistrum died 2 days after placement in the rumen, while seeds of Lens culinaris and Hordeum vulgare, which were tested for comparison, died 1 day after placement in the rumen. The seeds most tolerant to incubation were Cuscuta campestris and Amaranthus retroflexus, followed by Convolvulus arvensis, Chenopodium album and Eleusine indica. The results indicate that sheep could be an important vector for dispersing viable weed seeds, particularly hard‐coated seeds. Thus, sheep should be kept in pens for about 4 days before being released into new fields, to reduce the risk of weed infestation and spread.

Seed germination and viability of herbicide resistant and susceptible Chenopodium album populations after ensiling, digestion by cattle and manure storage

“…The treatment with 0 hours of rumen incubation takes only the in vitro digestion into account, which has no biological meaning, but this treatment shows that this part of the digestive tract of a cow also plays a role in an increase in the germination, but showed only minor effects on seed viability. Our results show a limited effect of digestion (only for the Rms population), which could be explained by the hard seed coat (Haidar et al ., ), acting as a protective layer against microbial and digestive enzymes. Other studies, however, reported higher reductions in viability for C. album after a 24‐h ruminal digestion (Blackshaw & Rode, ).…”

Effect of ensiling and in sacco digestion on the viability of seeds of selected weed species

“…The seeds of the different species (Table ) were placed in bags made from white polyester monofilament (53 ± 10 μm pore size) of the type used for in sacco degradability studies (Bar Diamond ® ). The pore size was small enough to contain all the seeds but still allow for the passage of water, gases and microorganisms through the mesh (Haidar et al ., ). Separate bags were used for each weed species and there were 50 seeds per bag.…”

Reflections on 14 years as Editor‐in‐Chief

“…Benth. (rice vampire weed) (Rodenburg et al ., ), the passage of weed seeds through sheep (Haidar et al ., ), using dogs to find alien invasive weed plants (Mclean & Sargisson, ) and using drones for weed mapping (e.g. Lambert et al ., ).…”