Impact Of Different Mechanical Weed Control Methods On Weed Communities, In Organic Soybean Cultivation, In Luxembourg.

Summary

Knowledge gaps have been identified for legumes cultivation, especially in terms of weed control, while soybean production is still at its initial stages in Luxembourg. The project LeguTec tests different mechanical weed control methods, in organic soybean cultivation. The impact of weeding are observed from an ecological point of view in term of species number and diversity of weeds.Two experimental sites at organic farms were the basis of experiments in 2018 and 2019. Seven different weed control treatments were tested. For each, the number of weed species as well as their identification have been assessed at several times. The Shannon index has quantified the diversity of weeds. 49 weed species have been found in total for all sites. Calculated Shannon index were common values for organic fields. Weed control has shown a negative impact on weed diversity. The use of a hoe tends to lower the most the number of species and the diversity of weeds. Low abundant species were more likely to disappear while few species, 1 to 4, keep dominating.Hoeing is reducing the most weed diversity, while being the most successful method tested within the framework of the project LeguTec.