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Cover crop termination options and application of remote sensing for evaluating termination efficiency
Vipin Kumar1, Vijay Singh1, Michael L Flessner2
1Eastern Shore Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Virginia Tech, Painter, Virginia, United States of America.
Plos One
|April 20, 2023
Summary
Efficient cover crop termination requires effective herbicide strategies. Tank-mixing herbicides like 2,4-D or glufosinate with glyphosate improves termination efficiency, especially for challenging crops like rapeseed.
Area of Science:
- Agronomy
- Sustainable Agriculture
- Weed Science
Background:
- Effective cover crop termination is crucial for successful crop rotation and soil health management.
- Current methods for assessing herbicide efficacy are time-consuming, and remote sensing approaches remain underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate herbicide efficacy for terminating wheat, cereal rye, hairy vetch, and rapeseed.
- To correlate vegetative indices (VIs) with visible cover crop termination efficiency.
Main Methods:
- Nine herbicides and roller-crimping were tested on four cover crops.
- Visible termination efficiency was rated 28 days after treatment (DAT).
- Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated between VIs (Green Leaf Index, NDVI) and termination efficiency.
Main Results:
- Glyphosate + glufosinate, paraquat + metribuzin, and combinations with 2,4-D or glufosinate showed >95% termination for cereals.
- Hairy vetch required tank-mixes for high termination rates; rapeseed showed limited control (<90%) with tested herbicides.
- Roller-crimping alone was ineffective for all cover crops.
- Green Leaf Index and NDVI showed significant correlations with termination efficiency for specific crops.
Conclusions:
- Tank-mixing 2,4-D or glufosinate with glyphosate is recommended for broad-spectrum cover crop termination, particularly for rapeseed.
- VIs show potential for non-invasive monitoring of herbicide efficacy in cover crop management.
