ARS | Publication request: WEED CONTROL WITH RAPESEED (BRASSICA NAPUS) AND WHITE MUSTARD (BRASSICA HIRTA) AS GREEN MANURE CROPS

Submitted to: Weed Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: November 1, 1993
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: Three- to 4-week-old white mustard (var. Martigena) and 8- week-old rapeseed (var. Jupiter) tissue incorporated into a Quincy loamy sand, Typic Torripsamments, Laconner loamy sand, Aquic Xerorthents, and a Sharpsburg, silty clay loam, Mesic Typic Argiudoll, at 20 g fresh weight per 400 g dry soil reduced emergence and growth of five weed species to varying degrees. Either emergence or growth of four broadleaf weed species [shepherdspurse, (Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Medik); kochia, (Kochia scoparia (L.) Schrad.); puncturevine, (Tribulus terrestris (L.)); and hairy nightshade, (Solanum sarrachoides (Sendtner)], and one grass species [green foxtail, Setaria viridis (L.) Beauv.] were inhibited by adding white mustard or rapeseed tissue to the soil in greenhouse studies. Total glucosinilate content of white mustard and rapeseed grown in the greenhouse averaged 4 and 5 umole per g dry weight, respectively. In field studies, rapeseed planted at 7 kg ha**-1 in August and incorporated as a green manure crop in the spring before planting potatoes reduced total weed biomass in potatoes by 96% and 50% in 1992 and 1993, respectively.