Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 98 (2003) 247254

Development and control of weeds in arable farming systems

B. Gerowitt
Research Centre for Agriculture and the Environment, University of Gttingen, Am Vogelsang 6, D-37075 Gttingen, Germany

Abstract It is investigated, whether the arable weed vegetation can perform as a characteristic to stimulate sustainable development of agriculture in Central Europe. The concept of sustainable development represents a dynamic process, inuenced by ecological, economic and social aspects. Characteristics are required to integrate desired ecological aspects into farming concepts, in order to stimulate production systems which add to a sustainable development of the sector. The investigations rely on data of an arable farming system experiment (INTEX). Three farming systems called good-farming-practice (GFP), integrated-exible and integrated-non-inversion were established from 1994 to 1998 on two sites. The systems differed in crop rotation, soil tillage, fertilisation and pesticide use. Thus, weed management comprised cultural or indirect control by plant husbandry and direct mechanical and chemical control. A residual weed vegetation after terminating all direct control in the arable crops was ex-ante intended in the integrated systems. The spring weed densities were observed in winter wheat previous to any direct control treatments. The residual weed vegetation was investigated in all crops by monitoring species numbers and total ground cover after terminating all direct control. The direct chemical control intensity was considerably lower in the integrated farming system, in which the crop rotation was extended and the soil was ploughed annually. Spring densities of problematic weeds like annual grass weeds and Galium aparine in the winter wheat crop were not higher in these systems. Higher covers of the residual weed vegetation occurred more often in the productive arable crops of the two integrated farming systems, which additionally hosted higher number of species after terminating direct control. The different system strategies, including a higher input of herbicides in the system integrated-non-inversion, averted severe problems, including those arising from the dominating species being generally problematic in arable land use. 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Arable farming systems; Weed vegetation; Weed control

1. Introduction Both, the political and the public discussion has been stimulated by the paradigm of sustainable development rst presented by the Brundtland Commission (WCED, 1987). Agricultural development is part of this discussion (Becker, 1997). Without repeating

details of the vast discussion about sustainable development, here two principles are accepted in general: Sustainable development is a dynamic process, stirred by economical, social and ecological aspects. Sustainable development is an overall concept. In order to come to subsidiary operational concepts it must be adapted to concrete situations and applications. In Central Europe the ecological aspects for sustainable development of agriculture are to reduce the

Tel.: +49-551-395538. E-mail address: bgerowil@gwdg.de (B. Gerowitt).

0167-8809/$ see front matter 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0167-8809(03)00084-7

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outputs with environmental relevance, e.g. leaching of nitrate, emission of greenhouse gases, erosion of fertile soil on the one hand and to maintain the biodiversity within the cultural landscape on the other (Gerowitt et al., 2000a). The ways to include these goals in sustainable development of agriculture are to negotiate with social and economic goals of the farming and the non-farming community. The process requires characteristics, that are usable to stimulate desired transformations. The results of the process than need to be observed. Thus, both actions require indicators to ex-ante induce and to ex-post survey the transformation. Different levels of actions can be distinguished for the processes, e.g. the global, the national, the regional, the farm and the eld level. Different methods of inducing the desired development are adequate for these levels. To assess indicators on the basic level of elds in an arable farming system is attempted in this paper. The spontaneous vegetation of arable elds is the exclusive contribution of the arable site itself to plant biodiversity. However, controlling weeds is one of the denite prerequisites for any successful arable production. Farmers can use various instruments, being either long-term regulative (e.g. crop rotation, tillage system), inuencing the short-term competition of the arable crop (e.g. nitrogen fertilisation) or interfering directly (mechanical and chemical control). Almost all of the outlined actions touch the aim of reducing the environmentally relevant outputs of arable farming. Thus, in arable farming systems weeds and their control could be an indicator to stimulate and survey changes in farming practice. The goal could be ex-ante

integrated in weed management decisions, while an ex-post survey would concentrate on the existing weed vegetation. The way of obtaining such a weed vegetation, developed in terms of quality or quantity, is crucial for the concept. The questions on how this goal could be integrated into the production methods and if this ts into the general ideas of sustainable development of arable farming in Central Europe are important aspects together with data on such weed vegetation. Results of the Gttingen INTEX project an arable farming system project are used to experimentally investigate these aspects.

2. Material and methods The observations were embedded into the arable farming system Project INTEX in Gttingen, located in the northern German Federal State Lower Saxony. The experimental elds were set up at two sites: Reinshof, 10 km south of Gttingen representing favourite arable conditions on at uvial soils, while Marienstein is sited in the hilly area 10 km north of Gttingen with heterogeneous heavy clayey and loamy soils. The farming system called good-farmingpractice (GFP) represented intensive plant production in strict keeping with the German legal framework: fertiliser application and the use of pesticides are practised in accordance to ofcial standards. A three-course crop rotation with oil seed rape (OSR) followed by winter wheat and winter barley was set up (Table 1).

Table 1 Overview of the farming systems during the experimental period 19951998, all crops were planted in all years Farming system GFP Soil cultivation Rotation Plough OSR, winter wheat, winter barley Integrated-exible Plough (optional) OSR, cover cropa , oats, winter wheat, spontaneous fallow Balanced Resistant varieties, mechanical weed control, pesticide use according to action thresholds, no growth regulators 3 m boundary strips Integrated-non-inversion Chisel plough OSR, cover cropa , oats, winter wheat, spontaneous fallow Balanced Resistant varieties, pesticide use according to action thresholds, no growth regulators 3 m boundary strips

N-fertilisation Good practice Plant protection Good practice, using herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and growth regulators Additional
a

Volunteer OSR.

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Since autumn 1994 two integrated systems called integrated-exible and integrated-non-inversion were established. The crop rotation was changed so that the OSR was now followed by a spring-sown crop (oats). Winter wheat and a set aside period (with spontaneous vegetation) followed. The prevention of autumn losses of nitrogen is the key factor for this type of crop rotation. Healthy crops were established by choosing robust and resistant varieties and by adjusting the sowing dates in order to reduce the amount of agri-chemical applications in comparison to GFP. This framework for an integrated arable system was the basis for the establishment of the two subtypes: In the system integrated-exible annual ploughing was deemed optional. Ploughing, in fact, was done in all 4 years. In the system integrated-non-inversion the soil was not ploughed. Direct weed control was adapted to each system. In GFP decisions were applied according to the regional ofcial advice, as associated with a well informed farmer. Accordingly, also reduced dosages for herbicides were considered. Weed control in the integrated systems accepted a certain amount of residual weeds, although long-term problems for arable production should be prevented. Detailed data on applied herbicides are given by Gerowitt et al. (2000b). The INTEX-project relied on eld-sized, long-term farming systems. All crops in the systems were planted each year in elds grouped according to the specic system rotation pattern. Single elds had a size between 1 and 3.7 ha. All agronomy treatments were carried out with normal-sized farming equipment (Steinmann and Gerowitt, 2000). Running since 1989, this paper refers to data of the INTEX research period from 1995 to 1998. After terminating all weed control treatments, the residual weed vegetation was investigated in a vegetation survey on all elds in JuneJuly. Three observation areas (10 m 10 m) per eld were permanently established during the experimental period (autumn 1994harvest 1998). The total and the individual ground cover (in %) of all species was recorded. A simple factor ANOVA could be applied on the data of species numbers. Means were compared with the Tukey-test for equal sample sizes and the Scheffe-test for unequal sample sizes. From autumn 1995 to 1998 three additional observation areas (10 m 15 m) were set up in each eld

carrying a productive crop to investigate the spring weed densities before any direct control treatments were applied. Data on spring weed densities in the winter wheat crops, presented here, were observed in MarchApril in 10 random subplots of 0.1 m2 per observation area. The spring weed density data of the winter wheat elds in 19951998 were compared using the Wilcoxon-test for summarised ranks. In this paper, direct weed control treatments are characterised according to the part of the total weed vegetation they are focussing, being either monocotyledonous or dicotyledonous weeds. Because of their relevance for control two species are considered separately: Galium aparine L. and Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop. The relative frequency of direct chemical and mechanical treatments is calculated for each part (monocotyledonous weeds, dicotyledonous weeds or the single species G. aparine and C. arvense).

3. Results 3.1. Weed control The control frequency of the weeds varied between the arable farming systemsbeing overall considerably lower in integrated-exible than in GFP and integrated-non-inversion (Fig. 1). Mechanical treatments were used in the system integrated-exible to control G. aparine, while no mechanical control was used in GFP, and only shopping of the set aside was applied in integrated-non-inversion. Grass weeds at the site Marienstein required incidental chemical control in integrated-exible, but regular in GFP and in integrated-non-inversion. Additionally, in the latter system the chemical control frequency of C. arvense was increased compared to the other systems. 3.2. Spring weed densities The spring weed densities in winter wheat differed between the systems (Fig. 2). At Reinshof grass weed densities were overall small and no signicant difference occurred. Although more dicotyledonous weeds appeared in both integrated systems at Reinshof, the density of the species determining all control decisions, G. aparine, was not signicantly different.

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Fig. 1. Relative frequencies (%) of chemical and mechanical control of monocotyledonous, dicotyledonous, G. aparine and C. arvense in all crops 19951998, white bars = mechanical control, grey bars = chemical control (100% = always controlled, 25% mechanical control in the integrated systems by shopping the set-aside).

Grass weeds, which were mainly Alopecurus myosuroides Huds., had a major impact at Marienstein: In integrated-exible their spring densities were effectively regulated by an expanded crop rotation (containing a spring-sown crop) and annual inversion tillage. A higher spring infestation with grass weeds in GFP indicates that, despite of the intensive chemical control in this system, the short rotation with only autumn sown crops favoured A. myosuroides. Dispensing with ploughing in integrated-non-inversion had the same effect on the spring densities of grass weeds.

3.3. Residual weed vegetation Species numbers of the residual weed vegetation (when all direct weed control treatments were applied) in the productive crops OSR and cereals were higher in the integrated systems than in GFP (Fig. 3). In the integrated systems the rotational spontaneous set-aside additionally increased the mean number of species of the crop rotation. When the total number of species per farming system was used instead of the mean number, the ranking was the same, but on a higher level (Marienstein: GFP 37

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Fig. 3. Mean (arithmetic) number of weed species (without crops) residual weed vegetation of the productive crops of the farming systems and the additional contribution of the set-aside elds in the integrated systems, 19951998.

Fig. 2. Spring weed densities in the winter wheat crops of the farming systems, median 19961998, three observation areas per eld (A, B = signicant differences between the farming systems, Wilcoxon, 0.05, n = 9).

species, integrated-non-inversion (set-aside included) 71 species, Reinshof: GFP 36 species, integrated-noninversion (set-aside included) 73 species). The majority of all species were common segetal plant species

(Gerowitt and Kirchner, 2000). Species dominating the residual weed cover were C. arvense and G. aparine (Reinshof) and A. myosuroides (Marienstein). With one exception of an evident increase due to farming practice (Kickxia elatine (L.) Dum. in Marienstein in integrated-non-inversion), rare arable weed species (listed by Garve (1993)) spontaneously occurred in all systems: Centaurea cyanus L., Silene noctiora L., Bromus arvensis L. in Reinshof and Consolida regalis S.F. Gray, Centaurea cyannus L., Myosurus minimus L. in Marienstein. In Reinshof Polygonum mite Schrank and Veronica agrestis L. only emerged on the set-aside elds.

Fig. 4. Ground cover (%) of the residual weed vegetation in OSR/winter wheat/winter barley (farming system GFP), respectively, OSR/oats/winter wheat (integrated farming systems) Box-and-Whisker plots, n = 36, 19951998.

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Differences in the mean cover (median) of the residual weed vegetation were small, but the variation of the residual weed vegetation (plotted as Box-and-Whiskers in Fig. 4) indicates differences between the experimental sites and the farming systems. The cover of weeds surviving control tends to be higher at the heterogeneous heavy clay soils of Marienstein, whereas at Reinshof elds with almost no residual weed cover occurred in all farming systems. The deviation of the weed cover values above the median is always more extended in the integrated systems than in GFP. The set-aside elds in the integrated systems are excluded to obtain a balanced comparison of the residual vegetation in the productive crops. Including the cover of the spontaneous vegetation of the set-aside elds would shift the upper end of the distribution of the values in the integrated system up to 80%.

4. Discussion This paper contributes to the question, whether the arable weed vegetation can be a characteristic to ex-ante stimulate and ex-post survey sustainable development of arable farming. Data of an arable farming system experiment enabled the investigation of various aspects of weeds and their control in case-studies with scientic and practical relevance. In agricultural science, farming system approaches are used to ll the gap between disciplinary experimental studies and practical applications. Results of this type of experiments contribute to two demands on agricultural research: testing the results of analytical designs in more holistic approaches and being almost directly transferable into practice (Francis, 1994; Norman et al., 1994). Furthermore, the investigation of ecological and environmental effects of complete farming systems is an important motivation to use this experimental design (Edwards et al., 1993). To characterise farming system experiments, Vereijken (1992) introduced the term of experiments to synthesise whole systems rather than to analyse single factors. Generally, farming systems experiments are set up with not replicated whole elds as major experimental units combined with false replicates of observations in the elds (Norman et al., 1994). False replicates can be a few random, either durable or movable observa-

tion areas as used here. However, the number of false replicates can be systematically increased in form of observation grids on elds (Rew and Cousens, 2001). Management factors, which are in classical eld trials divided into single, combinable factors with xed factor levels, are exibly combined in farming systems in order to achieve ex-ante determined thematic goals. Thus, farming systems are dynamic and have a self-learning ability. Consequently, data on the external inputs required to manage the system under the thematic goal of a farming system represent results for the issue of sustainable development. In arable farming weeds are generally controlled. Those plants surviving all control treatments may produce seeds or other dispersal units and thereby create objectives for further control. Arable farming can meet these interactions by regulating weed populations indirectly by crop rotation, tillage and further crop management supplemented by direct chemical and physical regulation (Gill et al., 1997; Doucet et al., 1999). If the existence of weeds shall be stimulated their long-term control should be possible without increasing indications for direct weed control. The spring weed density, before any control in the current year took place, is relevant for this goal. The parameter represents the effect of the entire past management, without the strong superimposing inuence of the direct control treatments in the current year (Doucet et al., 1999). Low spring densities may offer possibilities to skip or reduce chemical control. In the present study the spring densities of weeds conicting with arable objectives do not indicate a severe population build-up running out of control. This is also true regarding the sequential development during the experimental time (Gerowitt and Kirchner, 2000). Effects of a divers crop rotation in reducing spring infestations with weeds were shown by Claupein and Baeumer (1992), Dubois et al. (1998) and Pallutt (1999). Especially, high percentages of autumn sown crops favoured problematic weeds, e.g. like grass weeds (Pallutt, 1999). Withdrawing inversion tillage in a farming system is almost always accompanied by chemical weed control (Hutcheon et al., 1998). Without an effective direct control, weed populations generally increase, if the produced seeds are not buried through ploughing (Schmidt et al., 1995). Therefore, it is remarkable, that

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weed control in the system integrated-non-inversion could be managed without a distinct increase in herbicide input compared to GFP. Further advantages for the system integrated-non-inversion in terms of energy consumption and the environmental risk associated with herbicides are underlined by Gerowitt et al. (2000b). In the system integrated-exible the combination of cultural control, including inversion tillage, resulted in an effective restriction of weeds and direct chemical control could be remarkably reduced. Albrecht and Mattheis (1996) investigated an arable organic farming system and found that weeds were effectively regulated by cultural methods. The implementation of cultural control methods was less far reaching in the system integrated-exible compared to an organic farming system, but also effective. It could be less far reaching, since occasional chemical control was accepted. Thus, conventional farmers can also prot from cultural control by moderate changes in their crop husbandry. Investigations of other system parameters, like the gross margin, indicate no general disadvantage for both integrated systems (Steinmann, 1998; Steinmann and Gerowitt, 2000). Actually, to have any weed vegetation is no primary agricultural goal neither in terms of quantity (ground cover) nor of quality (species numbers). However, if this goal should be stimulated, the residual weed vegetation is the most suitable variable, since it is determined by both, the original weed vegetation occurring in autumn or spring and the weed management. Therefore, the residual weed vegetation reects the entire combination of all control methods, including cultural and direct control. In the presented study, the residual weed vegetation in the crops of the integrated systems had more species and occurred more often with higher covers. However, rare or endangered species did not occur regularly in these systems. If the seed bank of these species is depleted, the ability of arable weed species to infest elds depends on the species strategy for seed distribution, the distances to existing populations, the frequency and the amount of soil transport between elds (Marshall and Hopkins, 1990). For many rare weed species, the possibility of being distributed to other sites, will be rather low. In order to discuss this result in context with those of other farming systems experiments, it is worthwhile to reect their ex-ante determined thematic goal. The

attribute Integrated is utilised in various farming systems approaches (Zadoks, 1989; El Titi, 1996; Albrecht and Mattheis, 1996; more examples were given by Holland et al. (1994)). However, this attribute promises a false comparability, since the combinations of the indirect and direct weed control instruments differ, serving different objectives. Objective of the integrated system described by Albrecht and Mattheis (1996) is an environmentally friendly weed control. It was not purposed to have a residual vegetation nor was it achieved. Like in our investigations, Zadoks (1989) and El Titi (1996) attempted a residual weed vegetation in their integrated systems and achieved this goal in terms of quality and quantity. Although, this does not necessarily mean that the residual vegetation always consists of botanically interesting and lush vegetation, it is conrmed in experiments with practical farming relevance, that the arable weed vegetation could be both, maintained and controlled in sustainable developed farming systems. However, this maintenance should not focus the weed vegetation of historical forms of arable land use, but of land use, adapted to contemporary techniques and production methods.

5. Conclusions In this paper results of a farming system experiment are used to investigate how and to which degree the weed vegetation could be both, developed and controlled and whether the process meets the general idea of sustainable development in agriculture. In this experimental case-study on arable farming systems, the weed vegetation could perform as an ex-ante and ex-post relevant characteristic to promote sustainable developed farming systems. Consequently, this result demands for a more principal concept for applications (Gerowitt et al., 2003), which then can be implemented on a larger scale, e.g. regional and surveyed, whether the resulting practice still contributes to the overall concept of sustainable development of agriculture in Central Europe. Promoting the arable weed vegetation on this level possibly can extend the overlapping of primary agricultural goals and sustainable development of arable farming systems. At the moment, this area of overlap is underdeveloped not only for the farmers in

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Acknowledgements The INTEX farming systems are established with nancial support of the State Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry of Niedersachsen and the European Union. Investigating various ecological effects of the farming systems has been possible with nancial support of the German Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Reactor Safety. References
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