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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Auburn, Alabama » Soil Dynamics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #256778
Title: Demonstrating Use of High-Residue, Cover-Crop Conservation-Tillage Systems to Control Glyphosate-Resistant Palmer Amaranth

Author
item Price, Andrew
item KELTON, J - Auburn University
item Balkcom, Kipling
item CULPEPPER, A - University Of Georgia
item MAIN, C - University Of Tennessee
item MARSHALL, M - Clemson University
item MONKS, C - Auburn University
item NICHOLS, R - Clemson University
item PATTERSON, M - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA)
item STECKEL, L - University Of Tennessee

Submitted to: Southern Conservation Agricultural Systems Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/20/2010
Publication Date: 7/20/2010
Citation: Price, A.J., Kelton, J.A., Balkcom, K.S., Culpepper, A.S., Main, C.L., Marshall, M.W., Monks, C.D., Nichols, R.L., Patterson, M.G., Steckel, L.E. 2010. Demonstrating Use of High-Residue, Cover-Crop Conservation-Tillage Systems to Control Glyphosate-Resistant Palmer Amaranth. In: Endale, D.M., Iversen, K.V., editors. Proceedings of the 32nd Southern Conservation Agricultural Systems Conference, July 20-23, 2010, Jackson, Tennessee. CDROM.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Adoption rates of transgenic cotton have been on the incline since its introduction in 1997 to make up almost 90% of total cotton production in the United States. Reduced-tillage practices, with their even lower production costs, have seen a concomitant increase across the southern region of the US. However, the limited number of herbicide options and the loss of weed control through tillage, paired with the effectiveness of glyphosate, have resulted in a heavy dependence of a single herbicide mode of action in these systems. At present, cases of glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth have been documented throughout the Southeast including: Georgia, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina. With this development, the future of conservation tillage remains uncertain. A collaborative project, funded through an NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant and Cotton, Inc., will demonstrate that planting a cover crop following fall inversion can still reduce soil losses and create a cultural system wherein glyphosate-resistant weeds can be controlled. It is also designed to help educate farmers throughout the southern United States about the benefits of these high residue cover crops as well as effective strategies for incorporation into current production practices. This will be achieved through on-farm demonstration sites throughout the southern United States region offering a comparison between conservation tillage systems with high-residue cereal cover crops and a traditional inversion tillage system followed by a high residue winter cover crop. Direct producer contact through this project is designed to promote the beneficial aspects of and adoption of conservation technologies and high-residue winter annual cover crops in order to ensure effective Palmer amaranth control strategies in sustainable conservation tillage systems.