Effective weed management in sugar beet cultivation will become difficult in the future due to the non-approval of proven herbicidal active agents. AGXTEND and Zasso develop a new management approaches for integrated crop protection to guarantee effective weed control in sugar beet.
Tested for the first time in 2019 in a pre-emergence treatment scenario, in mulch sowing cultivation of sugar beet, the electrophysical weed control (Electroherb™) was compared with a mechanical method in a field trial with triple repetitions. The individual plots were divided, half into pre-sowing applications with and without glyphosate to control old weeds. The area-treatment with the XPOWER™ was carried out with a power of 72 kW on a working width of 3 m and driving speeds of 3 and 5 km/h.
These results have been published with research partners at the 29th German Conference on Weed Biology and Weed Control, in Braunschweig, in early March.
The results of the 2019 field trials have shown that electrophysical weed control leads to a strong reduction of weed density. In the plots without glyphosate application before sowing, here Electroherb™ shows that also older weeds can also be controlled effectively. In view of the low competitiveness in the cotyledon stage of sugar beet, Electroherb™ treatments in pre-emergence has a positive effect on sugar beet youth development.
Based on the results of the 2019 trial year, experiments on electrophysical pre-emergence treatment in sugar beets will be repeated in the 2020 trial year. In order to establish the Electroherb™ for post-emergence weed control in sugar beet as well, a between-row applicator will be used between the sugar beet rows for weed control for the first time in 2020.
Fig. 1: Electroherb™ application for weed control in pre-emergence of sugar beet growth.
On the left: Electroherb™ during the treatment of old weeds (mainly fallow rye). On the right: Weed densities on 10 m² (averaged values (n=6), 09.04.2019), 18 days after sugar beet sowing. The following pre-emergence variants: untreated control, Electroherb™ and harrow are displayed, both with and without glyphosate application 25 days before sowing (25.02.2019).
