The impact of crop diversification management on weed communities in summer cereals on organic farms in Northern Europe. An introduction to the study.

Summary

This study is a component of the CORE Organic Plus PRODIVA project, a collaboration between international weed research institutions, which aims to improved utilization of crop diversification for weed management in northern European organic arable cropping systems. The overall goal is to maintain a diversified and manageable weed flora that can support beneficial organisms. The objective of this specific research conducted by the Group Crop Health of the University Rostock is: to identify practical weed challenges, to investigate the role of crop diversification management for weed management in the field and to cluster weed species into practical groups. In order to reach this objective a diversity of methods are proposed. Data collection takes place on organic arable farms in five countries (Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Latvia and Germany) over the course of two years (2015-2016). Existing information and literature on weed occurrence and challenges from all regions are compiled into an Ex-ante database and literature review. A two year on farm weed survey is carried out in spring sown cereals and combined with the collection of the field history with a focus on the implementation of crop diversification measures. All data is collected at the University of Rostock for processing and analysing; the survey weed data will be compared with the Ex-ante database and analysed for interactions with the crop diversification measures. Results will both be communicated towards the stakeholders, as well as serve scientific publications.