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The Selective Memory of Weed Seedbanks after 18 Years of Conservation Tillage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Anne Légère ,
F. Craig Stevenson  and
Diane L. Benoit
Anne Légère*
Affiliation:
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Saskatoon Research Centre, 107 Science Place, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, S7N 0X2
F. Craig Stevenson
Affiliation:
142 Rogers Road, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, S7N 3T6
Diane L. Benoit
Affiliation:
Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada, 430 Boulevard Gouin, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec, Canada, J3B 3E6
*
Corresponding author's E-mail: anne.legere@agr.gc.ca
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Abstract

A conservation tillage study provided the opportunity to test whether tillage effects on the germinable weed seedbank would be consistent across different crop rotations and to investigate the potential residual effects of herbicide treatments terminated 12 yr earlier. Our objective was to measure the effects of tillage (moldboard plow [MP] vs. chisel plow [CP] vs. no-till [NT]), crop rotation (2-yr barley–red clover followed by 4-yr barley–canola–wheat–soybean rotation, compared to a cereal monoculture), and of a prior weed management factor (three intensity levels of herbicide use) on the density, diversity, and community structure of weed seedbanks. Species richness, evenness (Shannon's E), and diversity (Shannon's H′) of spring seedbanks varied little across treatments and over time. Total seedbank density generally increased as tillage was reduced, with some variations due to weed management in 1993 and crop rotation in 2006. Crop rotations generally had smaller seedbanks with fewer species than the monoculture. In 1993, seedbanks with minimum weed management were twice as dense as those with intensive or moderate weed management (approximately 6,000 vs. 3,000 seed m−2). By 2006, seed density averaged 6,838 seed m−2 across intensive and moderate weed management regardless of tillage, but was nearly twice as large in NT (12,188 seed m−2) compared to MP (4,770 seed m−2) and CP (7,117 seed m−2) with minimum weed management (LSD0.005 = 4488). Species with abundant seedbanks responded differently to treatments. Barnyardgrass and green foxtail had larger seedbanks in the monoculture than in the rotation. Common lambsquarters and pigweed species had large seedbanks in tilled treatments in the rotation, whereas yellow foxtail and field pennycress contributed to the large seedbanks observed in NT treatments. The latter two species were also associated with residual effects of weed management treatments (terminated 12 yr earlier) in NT. The differential seedbank response of weed species, attributed in part to contrasting weed emergence patterns and agronomic practice effects on seed rain, explained some of the weak treatment effects observed for total seedbank density and diversity. The large weed seedbanks observed in NT plots after 18 yr confirms the importance of seed rain and seedbank management for the sustainability of NT systems.

Keywords

Barnyardgrass, Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) Beauvcommon lambsquarters, Chenopodium album Lgreen foxtail, Setaria viridis (L.) Beauvfield pennycress, Thlaspi arvense Lpigweed species, Amaranthus spyellow foxtail, Setaria pumila (Poir.) Roem &SchultCrop rotationno-tillweed species richnessweed diversity, evennessweed community structure
Type
Weed Biology and Ecology
Information
Weed Science , Volume 59 , Issue 1 , March 2011 , pp. 98 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © Weed Science Society of America 

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