Weeds Control in Cassava Plants Development

The purpose of this study is to determine what kinds of weeds may interfere with the development of cassava and how to manage the presence of weeds that interfere with the growth of cassava. Cassava has significant economic and social potential as a future food component, raw material for a variety of businesses, and animal feed, among other applications. Weeds have the ability to multiply quickly via seed. Annual weeds are the most common kind of weed discovered in cassava because they develop extremely quickly and generate seeds in a short period of time. Weed management is often accomplished by mechanical techniques, such as pulling, submerging, or other similar methods. Uprooting should be done before the seeds of this plant begin to spread, and additional methods of management should include herbicide spraying

Development of Deep Learning-Based Variable Rate Agrochemical Spraying System for Targeted Weeds Control in Strawberry Crop

Agrochemical application is an important tool in the agricultural industry for the protection of crops. Agrochemical application with conventional sprayers results in the waste of applied agrochemicals, which not only increases financial losses but also contaminates the environment. Targeted agrochemical sprayers using smart control systems can substantially decrease the chemical input, weed control cost, and destructive environmental contamination. A variable rate spraying system was developed using deep learning methods for the development of new models to classify weeds and to accurately spray on desired weeds target. Laboratory and field experiments were conducted to assess the sprayer performance for weed classification and precise spraying of the target weeds using three classification CNNs (Convolutional Neural Networks) models. The DCNNs models (AlexNet, VGG-16, and GoogleNet) were trained using a dataset containing a total of 12,443 images captured from the strawberry field (4200 images with spotted spurge, 4265 images with Shepherd’s purse, and 4178 strawberry plants). The VGG-16 model attained higher values of precision, recall and F1-score as compared to AlexNet and GoogleNet. Additionally VGG-16 model recorded higher percentage of completely sprayed weeds target (CS = 93%) values. Overall in all experiments, VGG-16 performed better than AlexNet and GoogleNet for real-time weeds target classification and precision spraying. The experiments results revealed that the Sprayer performance decreased with the increase of sprayer traveling speed above 3 km/h. Experimental results recommended that the sprayer with the VGG-16 model can achieve high performance that makes it more ideal for a real-time spraying application. It is concluded that the advanced variable rate spraying system has the potential for spot application of agrochemicals to control weeds in a strawberry field. It can reduce the crop input costs and the environmental pollution risks.

Legume-Maize Intercropping System: An Alternative Pathway for Sustainable Agriculture

Intercropping provides ample scope to include two or more crops simultaneously in same piece of land thus targeting higher productivity from unit area on sustainable basis. Maize, a cereal crop of immense importance, planted in wide rows offers the possibility for adoption of intercropping. The intercropping system with maize and legume is beneficial in multiple aspects. The success of maize-legume intercropping system largely depends on choice of crops and their maturity, density, and time of planting. Advantage of maize-legume intercropping system is promoted in the form of higher yield and greater utilization of available resources, benefits in weeds control [1,2], pests and disease management [3], fixation of biological nitrogen by legumes and transfer of N to associated maize [4,5], insurance against crop failure to small holders, and control of erosion by covering a large extent of ground area [6]. Though maize-legume intercropping system exhibits limitations like less scope of farm mechanization, dependence on more human workforce, and chance of achieving less productivity from maize, the system implies more advantages for small holders in developing countries where human workforce is not a constraint.

Perennial forage legume cultivation and their above-ground mass management methods for weed suppression in arable organic cropping systems

Background In organic crop farms, growing crop yields are limited by insufficient nitrogen supply to plants and crop weediness. In such farms, legume swards are proposed as a service crop to improve nitrogen cycling. However, a positive effect of nitrogen is not only on cereals but also on weeds. In crop rotation, legume swards can stimulate the competition of cereals using the above-ground mass of legume to control the spread of weeds. The effects of the following methods for weeds control were analyzed: (i) forage legumes (Trifolium pratense L. and T. repens) undersown in cereals, (ii) forage legumes (T. pratense L., Medicago sativa L.) and their mixture with festulolium (x Festuliolium) and their above-ground mass management methods, and (iii) plant-based fertilizers (red clover above-ground mass fermented and composted). Results Oat with red clover undersown reduced weediness more than red clover monocrops, pea, and their mixture with oats. Incorporated undersown white clover mass increased spring barley competitiveness with weeds. When growing legume swards for a longer period of time (green fallow), red clover and their mixture with festulolium are the most suitable for this purpose. The lowest weed dry weight (average 34%, compared with the removal from the field) was obtained while using the mixed management. The cultivation of cereals after forage legumes and their mixtures with festulolium (as a preceding crop) increases its grain yield and competitive ability against weeds. Fermented red clover and fermented pea and spring wheat mixture mass, as a manure, did not increase weediness. Conclusions It was concluded that the effectiveness of the perennial forage legumes is determined by the uses of the above-ground mass: soil cover, mulching, application of green manure, and intensity of mass mineralization. Type of activity of forage legumes on weeds were competition for environmental resources, disruption/promotion of germination, destruction of above-ground mass, reduction of the amount of matured seeds, creation of a physical barrier (mulch), and increase of competitiveness of cereals. Growing forage legumes in pure crops usually leads to a loss of marketable production. Graphic abstract

DOSES DE GLIFOSATO E TEMPERATURA DA CALDA DE APLICAÇÃO NO CONTROLE DE CAPIM BRAQUIÁRIA

DOSES DE GLIFOSATO E TEMPERATURA DA CALDA DE APLICAÇÃO NO CONTROLE DE CAPIM BRAQUIÁRIA JOÃO DE DEUS GODINHO JUNIOR1, JOSÉ MÁRCIO DE SOUSA JÚNIOR1, RENATO ADRIANE ALVES RUAS1, ALBERTO CARVALHO FILHO1, PEDRO IVO VIEIRA GOOD GOD1 1Instituto de Ciências Agrárias, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Rodovia MG-230 - Km 7, Zona Rural, CEP: 38810-000, Rio Paranaíba - Minas Gerais, Brasil, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. RESUMO: As variações de temperatura podem influenciar na distribuição e penetração de princípios ativos de herbicidas nas plantas. Assim, é necessário definir a temperatura mais adequada para cada aplicação, pois, temperaturas baixas podem inibir absorção de certos produtos e interferir na efetividade do controle e temperaturas mais elevadas podem causar perdas por deriva e reduzir a eficácia do tratamento. Objetivou-se avaliar o efeito de doses de glifosato e a temperatura da calda de aplicação no controle de capim braquiária. Empregou- se o delineamento em blocos casualizados, com tratamentos em esquema fatorial 5 x 4 x 4, sendo: cinco temperaturas de calda (5, 20, 35, 50 e 65 °C), quatro doses do glifosato (0, 0,54, 1,08 e 1,62 kg i.a. ha-1) e quatro períodos de avaliação (7, 14, 21 e 28 dias após a aplicação). Foram realizadas três repetições, totalizando 240 unidades experimentais constituídas de uma área de 10 m² (5 x 2 m) formada com Urochloa brizantha cv. Piatã. Houve efeito significativo apenas das interações duplas, sendo observado maior efeito da temperatura nos tratamentos que receberam menores doses do herbicida. Concluiu-se que a elevação da temperatura da calda de glifosato melhora o controle efetivo de U. brizantha, principalmente, nas menores doses. Palavras-chave: dessecação de plantas daninhas, eficiência de controle, herbicidas, tecnologia de aplicação. GLYPHOSATE DOSES AND TEMPERATURE OF APPLICATION SYRUP IN CONTROL OF PALISADE GRASS ABSTRACT: Temperature variations can influence the distribution and penetration of the active ingredient in the plant. However, it is necessary to define the most suitable temperature for each treatment, since lower temperatures may inhibit the absorption of the products and those higher can cause losses due to drift. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of glyphosate doses and the application syrup temperature on the control of palisade grass. Was employed a randomized complete block design with treatments in a factorial 5 x 4 x 4, being five syrup temperatures (5, 20, 35, 50 and 65 °C), four doses of glifosato (0, 0.54, 1.08 and 1.62 kg ha-1) and four evaluation periods (7, 14, 21 and 28 days after application). Three replicates were performed, totaling 240 established experimental units of 10 square meters in size (5 x 2 m) formed with Urochloa brizantha cv. Piatã. There was an effect in double interactions, and observed higher temperature effect in treatments with lower doses of herbicide. It was concluded that the increase in glifosato syrup temperature improvement effective control of U. brizantha mainly in smaller doses. Keywords: desiccation of weeds, control efficiency, herbicides, application technology.

Efficacy of Different Formulation of Glyphosate Herbicide on Sorghum Weeds

Background: Sorghum is susceptible to weed at its early growth stage. The aim of this efficacy trial was to ensurethat efficacy of chemical Glyphosate-isopropylammonium 41% SL on sorghum weeds control non- selectively before sorghum sowing.Methods: Thrice experiment was carried out in Humera area in Humera Agricultural Research Center, Semur farm and Desta Berhe farm during rainy growing season of 2019 using sorghum variety i.e. Brhan. Pre and post spray weed count were subjected to efficacy calculation.Result: New product of herbicide, Glyphosate-isopropylammonium 41% SL (Glpho) at 3.00 lt a.i./ha was shown better performance than the standard check Glymax 48% SL (W/V). Therefore, the new Glpho product could be suggested as an alternative non-selective herbicide before sorghum sowing.