ARS | Publication request: Integrated use of bioactive, green, and plastic mulches to suppress Cyperus rotundus and C. esculentus in tomato

Submitted to: Weed Science Society of America Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: October 11, 2011
Publication Date: February 7, 2009
Citation: Shabana, Y.M., Rosskopf, E.N., Abou Tabl, A.H., Charudattan, R., Klassen, W., Morales-Payan, J. 2009. Integrated use of bioactive, green, and plastic mulches to suppress Cyperus rotundus and C. esculentus in tomato. Weed Science Society of America Meeting Abstracts.

Technical Abstract: Purple and yellow nutsedges (Cyperus rotundus and C. esculentus, respectively) are among the world’s most problematic weeds that impact virtually every horticultural crop grown in Florida and the Caribbean. As an alternative to conventional methods of control that includes the use of soil fumigation with methyl bromide, we tested nine hay mulches (shoot straw of bahiagrass, cogongrass, cowpea, millet, yellow nutsedge, sorghum Sudangrass, sunnhemp, and rye) and three green mulches (shoot biomass of cowpea, millet, and sorghum Sudangrass) as a means to suppress nutsedge growth in a raised-bed tomato (cv. Tygress) field. In addition, two fungus-infested cogongrass hays (infested with the nutsedge pathogen Dactylaria higginsii [Dh] or the saprophytic fungus Trichoderma sp. [Tri]), and two plastic mulches (black and infra-red transmissible [IRT]) were tested. The black plastic mulch and the Dh-infested cogongrass mulch consistently reduced nutsedge emergence and growth more than the other organic mulches and the IRT plastic mulch. Among the organic mulches, cogongrass infested with Dh or Tri and cowpea, sunnhemp, Bahiagrass, and cogongrass provided the highest levels of nutsedge suppression. No disease symptoms developed on nutsedge plants when Dh- or Tri-infested cogongrass was used as the mulch. Both plastic mulches (black and IRT) and Tri-infested cogongrass enhanced tomato yield and the proportion of larger fruits. The highest yield of extra large tomatoes per plant was obtained when these mulches were applied.