Influence of soil cover and herbicide application on weed control and corn yield

Artículos Influence of soil cover and herbicide application on weed control and corn yield Influencia de la cobertura del suelo y la aplicación de herbicidas en el control de malezas y la productividad del maíz Eduardo Carlos Rüdell1  http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4296-2318 Dieferson Frandaloso1  http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8402-4397 Bianca Antoniolli Zanrosso1  http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2784-4188 Fernando Machado dos Santos1  http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9236-3524 Maria Antônia Rossatto Novelli1  http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4793-0112 1 Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Rio Grande do Sul (IFRS), Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. , , , , ABSTRACT Crop management and herbicide rotation have influenced the sustainability of production systems. The cover crops use and pre-and post-emergence herbicides are important tools that help farmers’ strategies and conserve the agricultural system. In this context, the objective of this research was to evaluate the dry matter production of different cover crops before the establishment of corn, the effect on decreasing weed population, and the increase in corn yield. In addition, the influence of pre-and post-emergence herbicides on summer cultivation, observing the behavior concerning weeds, crop injury, and crop yield. The experiment was conducted during the years 2018-2019 in Sertão/RS - Brazil. The experimental arrangement was of randomized blocks with four replications. The treatments used were three different winter cover crops preceding corn cultivation × four pre-emergence herbicides × four post-emergence herbicides, totaling 192 experimental units. Going through the results, atrazine and atrazine + simazine used in pre-emergence had more influence on weed number reduction, and the post-emergence ammonium glufosinate herbicide promoted the highest weed control in post-emergence. Amicarbazone and glyphosate resulted in the best combination for corn yield using in pre-and post-emergence, respectively. Rye + turnip + vetch as cover crop resulted in higher biomass production, more significant weed number reduction, and increase corn yield. Keywords: Avena strigosa L; Consortium; Secale cereale L; Zea mays L RESUMEN El manejo de cultivos y la rotación de herbicidas han influido en la sostenibilidad de los sistemas de producción. El uso de cultivos de cobertura y herbicidas de pre y post-emergencia son herramientas importantes que ayudan a los agricultores a desarrollar estrategias y conservar el sistema agrícola. En este contexto, el objetivo de esta investigación fue evaluar diferentes cultivos de cobertura previos al establecimiento del cultivo de maíz en relación con la producción de materia seca, el efecto en la disminución de la población de malezas y el aumento del rendimiento del maíz. Además, la influencia de los herbicidas de pre y postemergencia en el cultivo de verano, observándose el comportamiento en relación a malezas, daño al cultivo y rendimiento del cultivo. El experimento se realizó durante los años 2018-2019 en Sertão/RS - Brasil. El arreglo experimental fue de bloques al azar con cuatro repeticiones. Los tratamientos utilizados fueron tres diferentes cultivos de cobertura de invierno que preceden al cultivo de maíz × cuatro herbicidas de preemergencia × cuatro herbicidas de postemergencia, totalizando 192 unidades experimentales. Al analizar los resultados, la atrazina y la atrazina + simazina utilizadas en preemergencia tuvieron más influencia en la reducción del número de malezas, y el herbicida glufosinato de amônio promovió el mayor control de malezas en postemergencia. La amicarbazona y el glifosato resultaron en la mejor combinación para el rendimiento de maíz en pre y postemergencia, respectivamente. El centeno + nabo + arveja como cultivo de cobertura dieron como resultado una mayor producción de biomasa, una reducción más significativa del número de malezas y un aumento del rendimiento del maíz. Palabras clave: Avena strigosa L; Consorcio; Secale cereale L; Zea mays L No-till system is considered the most widely and sustainable practice for agricultural production in the Brazilian agroecosystems (Fuentes-Llanillo et al., 2021). One of the premises of this management is the rotation of cash and cover crops, maintaining the soil constantly covered, using the alternation of different crops in the same area. Therefore, the same species return to the same location, following the interval occupied by other crops. In contrast, agricultural systems based on crop succession result in low biomass production that keeps the soil uncultivated during specific periods of the year, promoting degradation, the presence of problematic weeds species, leading the systems to be less efficient and unsustainable due to increased costs, yield stagnation, and the evolution of weed resistance species (Barbieri et al., 2019; Adami et al., 2020). From this conceptualization, the sustainability of the farm system involves integrated management tools, in which cover crops preceding major crops, in isolated or in a consortium can bring numerous benefits to the production system (São Miguel et al., 2018). The use of cover crop mixtures promoted a beneficial intraspecific competition to the system, making a physical barrier by the straw that reduces the amount and quality of light, the wavelength of waves, and the thermal amplitude that reaches the soil, which are the most stimulating environmental factors to overcome dormancy by weeds (Gomes and Christoffoleti, 2008). Additionally, there is a reduction in the stimulation of germination processes and in weed growth, which presents propagules with low seed reserve (Brighenti and Oliveira, 2011). Complementary, the use of different chemical management strategies in the control of weed species, in which the rotation between mechanisms of action and the use of pre-emergent herbicides provide effective results and turns into an indispensable tool. This integrated management promotes efficient weed control, with the aim of controlling populations at the beginning of their development and exploring the residual herbicide effect in order to keep the crop out of competition during the critical period of infestation, ensuring raising success in productivity (Galon et al., 2018). Also, previous research has found that the weed control stage to reduce greater than 5% yield loss in corn, must be before 11 cm height and before 27 days after corn emergence, highlighting the relevance of effective early weed control (Soltani et al., 2022). Thus, the need for integrated tools for the management of agricultural production systems justifies the realization of related studies, which can help professionals and farmers increase adaptation for sustainability and profitability work. In this context, this study aimed to evaluate the influence of different cover crops in dry mass accumulation, its impacts on weed population, an (...truncated)