The latest inspiration sheet from IWMPRAISE, the project addressing Integrated Weed Management (IWM), details the seven trials conducted in three French regions on combined mechanical and chemical weeding in oilseed rape (OSR).
The idea behind combined weeding in OSR, explain the researchers, is to employ mechanical weeding using a flex-tine harrow or hoe alongside herbicides, reducing the costs and treatment frequency index (TFI) of purely herbicide programmes, while guaranteeing good weeding efficiency.
Researchers report a slight benefit of harrow or hoe programmes followed by an application of the herbicide Mozzar in the autumn on broadleaf weeds (though not always) compared to an autumn chemical treatment alone.
They say that hoeing seems more efficient and can help to avoid pre-emergence weeding or allow farmers to choose programmes using fewer herbicides, producing a financial saving and a 0.5 reduction in TFI.
They identify the benefit of weeding tools as not so much a reduction in herbicide doses but the possibility of avoiding herbicide treatments altogether after mechanical weeding when weed infestation makes this possible.
They add: “The experiments will be continued by using other methods with a flex-tine harrow only or a hoe only from rapeseed at 4 leaves to see if the catch-up with Mozzar is necessary or not. A no-treatment, if the level of infestation allows it, would decrease the TFI.”
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