Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T15:47:27.049Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Solarization for Weed Control

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2017

Menashe Horowitz ,
Yael Regev  and
Geza Herzlinger
Menashe Horowitz
Affiliation:
Div. Weed Res., Agric. Res. Organization, Newe-Yaar Exp. Stn., P.O. Haifa, Israel
Yael Regev
Affiliation:
Div. Weed Res., Agric. Res. Organization, Newe-Yaar Exp. Stn., P.O. Haifa, Israel
Geza Herzlinger
Affiliation:
Div. Weed Res., Agric. Res. Organization, Newe-Yaar Exp. Stn., P.O. Haifa, Israel
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Solarization is a method of heating moist soil by covering it with plastic sheets to trap solar radiation. In field experiments in Israel during the summer, maximum soil temperature under plastic cover at the 5-cm depth averaged 46 to 49C. No weeds emerged under the plastic cover during solarization and weed emergence was reduced after its removal. The heating effect from solarization decreased with soil depth. Concentration of O2 in soil under plastic was similar to that in uncovered controls, but the concentration of CO2 was markedly higher than in control soil, rising up to 2.4%. Higher temperatures and better residual weed control were produced by transparent than by black plastic, with best results from thin (0.03 mm), transparent polyethylene. Under Israeli summer conditions, 2 to 4 weeks of solarization produced effective control of annual weeds that was still appreciable after 1 yr. Narrow sheets of 20 to 50 cm produced effective weed control in bands. on soil irrigated once before placing the plastic sheets, there was no need to irrigate during solarization. The response of weed species to solarization differed. Many annual weeds, both summer species such as pigweed (Amaranthus spp.) and common purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.) and winter species as henbit (Lamium amplexicaule L.) were well controlled by solarization. Broomrape (Orobanche crenata Forsk.) was controlled in one experiment. on the other hand, horseweed [Conyza canadensis (L.) Cronq.] and bull mallow (Malva niceaensis All.) were relatively resistant, and established perennials escaped the treatment.

Keywords

Plastic coverhigh temperaturesoil atmosphereannual weedsgermination
Type
Research Article
Information
Weed Science , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , March 1983 , pp. 170 - 179
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 Weed Science Society of America 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

1. Baker, K. F. 1962. Principles of heat treatment of soil and planting material. J. Austr. Inst. Agric. Sci. 28:118–126.Google Scholar
2. Christiansen, M. N. 1978. The physiology of plant tolerance to temperature extremes. Pages 173–191 in Jung, G. A., ed. Crop Tolerance to Suboptimal Land Conditions. Am. Soc. Agron., Madison, Wisconsin. Spec. No. 32.Google Scholar
3. Elad, Y., Katan, J., and Chet, I. 1980. Physical, biological and chemical control integrated for soil-borne diseases in potatoes. Phytopathology 70:418–422.Google Scholar
4. Grinstein, A., Katan, J., Abdul-Razik, A., Zeydan, D., and Elad, Y. 1979. Control of Sclerotium rolfsii and weeds in peanuts by solar heating of the soil. Plant Dis. Rep. 63:1056–1059.Google Scholar
5. Grinstein, A., Orion, D., Greenberger, A., and Katan, J. 1979. Solar heating of the soil for the control of Verticillium dahliae and Pratylenchus thornei in potatoes. Pages 431–438 in Schippers, B. and Gams, W., eds. Soil-Borne Plant Pathogens. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
6. Holm, R. E. 1972. Volatile metabolites controlling germination in buried weed seeds. Plant Physiol. 50:293–297.Google Scholar
7. Horowitz, M. and Reger, Y. 1980. Mulching with plastic sheets as a method of weed control. Hassadeh 60:395–399. (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
8. Jacobsohn, R., Greenberger, A., Katan, J., Levi, M., and Alon, H. 1980. Control of Egyptian broomrape (Orobanche aegyptiaca) and other weeds by means of solar heating of the soil by polyethylene mulching. Weed Sci. 28:312–316.Google Scholar
9. Katan, J. 1981. Solar heating (solarization) of soil for control of soil-borne pests. Annu. Rev. Phytopathology 19:211–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10. Katan, J., Greenberger, A., Alon, H., and Grinstein, A. 1976. Solar heating by polyethylene mulching for the control of diseases caused by soil -borne pathogens. Phytopathology 66: 683–688.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11. Katan, J., Rotem, I., Finkel, Y., and Daniel, J. 1980. Solar heating of the soil for the control of pink root and other soil-borne diseases in onions. Phytoparasitica 8:39–50.Google Scholar
12. Koller, D. 1972. Environmental control of seed germination. Pages 2–101 in Kozlowski, T. T., ed. Seed Biology. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
13. Mahrer, Y. 1979. Prediction of soil temperatures of a soil mulched with transparent polyethylene. J. Appl. Meteorol. 18:1263–1267.Google Scholar
14. Mahrer, Y. and Katan, J. 1982. Spatial soil temperature regime under transparent polyethylene mulch–numerical and experimental studies. Soil Sci. 131:82–87.Google Scholar
15. Mayer, A. M. and Polyakoff-Mayber, A. 1975. The Germination of Seeds. 2nd Ed. Pergamon Press. Oxford. 192.Google Scholar
16. Pullman, G. S., DeVay, J. E., and Garber, R. H. 1981. Soil solarization and thermal death: a logarithmic relationship between time and temperature for four soil -borne plant pathogens. Phytopathology 71:959–964.Google Scholar
17. Pullman, G. S., DeVay, J. E., Garber, R. H., and Weinhold, A. R. 1981. Soil solarization: Effects on Verticillium wilt of cotton and soil-borne population of Verticillium dahliae, Pythium spp., Rhizoctonia solani and Thielaviopsis basicola . Phytopathology 71:954–959.Google Scholar
18. Rubin, B. and Benjamin, A. 1981. Solar sterilization as a tool for weed control. Abstr., Weed Sci. Soc. Am. p. 135.Google Scholar
19. Taylorson, R. B. and Hendricks, S. B. 1981. Anesthetic release of seed dormancy–an overview. Isr. J. Bot. 29:273–280.Google Scholar