Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Sustainable Agricultural Systems Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #315774
Title: Effectiveness of herbicides for control of hairy vetch (Vicia villosa) in winter wheat

Author
item CURRAN, WILLIAM - Pennsylvania State University
item WALLACE, JOHN - Pennsylvania State University
item Mirsky, Steven
item CROCKETT, BEN - Pennsylvania State University

Submitted to: Weed Technology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/25/2015
Publication Date: 4/4/2015
Citation: Curran, W.S., Wallace, J.M., Mirsky, S.B., Crockett, B. 2015. Effectiveness of herbicides for control of hairy vetch (Vicia villosa) in winter wheat. Weed Technology. DOI: 10.1614/WT-D-14-00139.1.

Interpretive Summary: Hairy vetch is used as a cover crop to biologically fix nitrogen, prevent erosion, improve soil health, and suppress weeds. Of the available cover crops in the US, hairy vetch is one of the top performers when it comes to winter hardiness, fast growth rate, and high biomass production. While hairy vetch is one of our most promising cover crops, due to seed dormancy (hard seed coat), this cover crop can become a weed in winter annual grain crop which has greatly impeded its adoption. Therefore, we evaluated the effectiveness of post-emergent herbicides applied at fall and spring timings on hairy vetch control in winter wheat. In general, spring applications tended to be more effective than fall applications. Among synthetic auxins, clopyralid and treatments containing dicamba were effective at both timings, resulting in greater than 90% hairy vetch control at wheat harvest. Pyroxsulam and prosulfuron provided the most effective hairy vetch control (> 90%) at both application timings among acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitors. There was minimal to no injury from herbicides on the wheat cash crop. Our research has established that several synthetic auxin and ALS inhibitor herbicides, applied as a post-emergence herbicide in fall or spring, can be safely used in winter wheat to control hairy vetch in an integrated weed management program. This work will directly aid producers in both removing barriers to hairy vetch adoption as a cover crop, and provide them with the necessary information for controlling this cover crop in their small grain cash crops.

Technical Abstract: We conducted a field experiment in 2009-10 at Pennsylvania and Maryland locations, and repeated it in 2010-11, to test the effectiveness of post-emergent herbicides applied at fall and spring timings on seeded hairy vetch in winter wheat. We tested 16 herbicide treatment combinations that included synthetic auxins, acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitors, and a protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO) inhibitor. Spring applications tended to be more effective than fall applications. Among synthetic auxins, clopyralid (105 g ai ha-1) and treatments containing dicamba (140 g ai ha-1) were effective at both timings, resulting in greater than 90% hairy vetch control at wheat harvest. Pyroxsulam and prosulfuron applied at 18 g ai ha-1 provided the most effective hairy vetch control (> 90%) at both application timings among ALS inhibitors. Spring applications of several herbicides provided moderate (> 80%) to high (> 90%) levels of hairy vetch control, including: 2,4-D amine (140 g ha-1), mesosulfuron-methyl (15 g ha-1), tribenuron-methyl (13 g ha-1) and thifensulfuron/tribenuron-methyl treatments (16 and 32 g ha-1). Winter wheat injury was evaluated, but symptoms were negligible for most treatments. Winter wheat yields declined with increasing hairy vetch biomass. Fall herbicides may be prioritized to reduce hairy vetch competition during the fall and early spring growing season. Our research has established that several synthetic auxin and ALS inhibitor herbicides, applied POST in fall or spring, can be safely used in winter wheat to control hairy vetch in an integrated weed management program.