Reducing herbicide use in spring cereal production
Authors: Salonen Jukka 
Published: July 2018

A survey was conducted in southern and central Finland from 1982 to 1984 to determine the main weed species affecting spring cereal production. The weed flora was dominated by broad-leaved species. The most common broad-leaved weeds were Chenopodium album L., Galeopsis L. spp., Viola arvensis Murr. and Stellaria media (L.) Vili., and the most common grass weed was Elymus repens (L.) Gould. The density of weeds averaged 170 plants m-2 (median 124), and the dry weight 320 kg ha-1 (median 183). Ordination analyses revealed that the species composition of weed populations varied regionally and was affected by soil characteristics and crop management practices, particularly by long-term use of herbicides. An additional aspect studied in the survey was herbicide efficacy in farmers’ fields. Phenoxy acid herbicides, MCPA, dichlorprop and mecoprop, were the most common active ingredients used in the 252 spring cereal fields surveyed. MCPA alone gave only a moderate control of 65%, determined as a reduction of weed biomass, whereas the efficacy of herbicide mixtures containing MCPA averaged 83%. Inadequate control was in most cases due to a wrong choice of active ingredient for the prevailing weed population. Reduction in the use of herbicides by applying lower doses than recommended was studied in field experiments. Herbicide formulations of MCPA/dichlorprop, MCPA/mecoprop and MCPA/fluroxypyr were screened in spring barley (Hordeum vulgäre L.) and spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) fields. The efficacy of herbicides, applied at the lowest recommended dose, averaged 85%. At a 30% lower dose the efficacy still reached 79%. Even lower herbicide doses were often adequate, depending on the herbicide, weed species and the crop. The production of weed biomass was adequately suppressed with reduced doses since the most common and aggressive species, such as Chenopodium album and Galeopsis spp., were efficiently controlled with low doses. Use of reduced herbicide doses for three years in the same field caused neither an increase in the subsequent weed infestation nor changes in the species composition of weed populations compared with the treatments at recommended rates of application. The percentage emergence of weeds averaged 70-75% at the time of herbicide application when the crop was at the 3-4 leaf growth stage. However, spraying during the early growth stages of those weeds that emerge in the main flush is recommended since the competitive ability of the crop is normally sufficient to suppress the growth of late-emerging weed seedlings. At harvest the proportion of weed biomass in unsprayed plots, as a proportion of the total vegetative biomass, averaged 3.1% in barley fields and 3.6% in wheat fields. The growth of weeds was more efficiently suppressed with reduced herbicide doses than by increasing the seeding rate of the crop. The mean yield gain remained below 5% at all rates of herbicide application. No reliable density-based threshold for chemical weed control was established. Instead, site-specific dose adjustment based on the composition and infestation level of the prevailing weed populations is suggested to reduce the total use of herbicides and to maintain the current low levels of weed infestation. Consequently, annual reductions of 30% in use of cereal herbicides are expected. Such a reduction corresponds to monetary savings of approximately FIM 20 million per annum at the national level.