The IWMPRAISE project, which is focused on Integrated Weed Management in a range of important crops across Europe, has produced the 2018 edition of its comprehensive booklet outlining its ongoing experimental trials.
The 86-page booklet details ongoing work in eight different European countries (Denmark, France, Italy, Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and United Kingdom) in narrow-row annually drilled crops (such as small grain cereals and oilseed rape), wide-row annually drilled crops (such as maize, sunflower and field vegetables), perennial herbaceous crops (such as grasslands, alfalfa and red clover) and perennial woody crops (such as pome fruits, citrus and olives).
To take the latter crop as an example, work is ongoing at two sites in Spain, which has a world record 2.6 million hectares of olive groves. Researchers at a site in Cordoba, southern Spain, are comparing the performance of grass cover crops with conventional tillage, while scientists in Villava, northern Spain, are comparing a crucifer cover crop with conventional tillage.
At the other extreme, geographically speaking, researchers in Denmark are experimenting in winter wheat, including strategies with no-till and others with conventional ploughing, as well as various levels of herbicide applications combined with mechanical weeding. Another team of Danish researchers are experimenting with combinations of mechanical weeding and herbicide applications, including band spraying, in sugar beet.
IWMPRAISE (Integrated Weed Management: PRActical Implementation and Solutions for Europe) is a Horizon 2020 project that “aims to demonstrate that IWM supports more sustainable cropping systems that are resilient to external impacts and do not jeopardise profitability or the steady supply of food, feed and biomaterials.”
The project is coordinated by Aarhus University, one of ENDURE’s Danish partners, and comprises 37 partners from eight different European countries, including 11 leading universities and research institutes within the area of weed management, 14 SMEs and industrial partners, and 12 advisory services and end user organisations.
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