ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Combination of bacterial products and cover crops as an innovative method of weed control in organic spring barley
Anna Płaza 1, A-D,F
,
 
,
 
Rafał Górski 3, C,E-F
,
 
Robert Rosa 1, C,E-F
 
 
 
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1
Institute of Agriculture and Horticulture, Faculty of Agrobioengineering and Animal Husbandry, Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities, Poland
2
Department of Soil Science and Microbiology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Poland
3
Faculty of Engineering and Economics, Ignacy Mościcki University of Applied Sciences in Ciechanów, Poland
A - Research concept and design; B - Collection and/or assembly of data; C - Data analysis and interpretation; D - Writing the article; E - Critical revision of the article; F - Final approval of article
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Rafał Górski   

Faculty of Engineering and Economics, Ignacy Mościcki University of Applied Sciences in Ciechanów, Narutowicza 9, 06 - 400, Ciechanów, Poland
Submission date: 2022-12-07
Acceptance date: 2023-02-10
Online publication date: 2023-02-20
 
 
HIGHLIGHTS
  • An application of bacterial products significantly reduces the biomass and number of weeds.
  • Cover crops significantly reduce the biomass and number of weeds.
  • The best weed control in spring barley was achieved following an application of Azotobacter chroococcum with PGPR.
  • An application of a combination of bacterial products and cover cropping reduces an occurrence of dominating weed species.
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Field research was conducted at Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities in 2019-2021. The objective was to determine the effects of bacterial formulations and cover crops on the biomass, number and species composition of dominating weeds prior to spring barley harvest. The field trial involved two factors: A. bacterial formulations: I – control, II – nitrogen-fixing bacteria (Azospirillum lipoferum Br17, Azotobacter chroococcum), III – nitrogen-fixing bacteria (Azospirillum lipoferum Br17, Azotobacter chroococcum) + phosphorus-solubilizing bacteria (Bacillus megaterium var, phosphaticum, Arthrobacter agilis), IV – nitrogen-fixing bacteria (Azotobacter chroococcum) + plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) (Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Pseudomonas fluorescens); B. cover crops: control without a cover crop, red clover, red clover + Italian ryegrass, Italian ryegrass. Spring barley was harvested in late July. Weed samples were collected just before harvest to determine the fresh and dry matter of weeds as well as their number and species composition. Our research demonstrated conclusively that an application of bacterial products combined with cover crops contributed to a significant reduction in the weight and number of weeds including dominating species such as Chenopodium album, Sinapis arvensis, Tripleurospermum inodorum and Elymus repens. Superior weed control was achieved in spring barley grown in combination with Azotobacter chroococcum + PGPR and a mixture of red clover and Italian ryegrass as a cover crop.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors have declared that no conflict of interests exist.
eISSN:1899-007X
ISSN:1427-4345