Thesis
The relative competitiveness of spring crops in a dryland organic system in eastern Washington
Washington State University
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
2012
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/101742
Abstract
Weed control in certified organic grain production in Eastern Washington presents many challenges. Spring crops, in particular, are weak competitors against weeds and often fail due to weed pressure. In May of 2010 and 2011, two organic spring crop trials were initiated near Pullman, WA. The relative competitiveness of barley, wheat, lentil, and pea was evaluated using cultivated oat to simulate wild oat competition. The experiment was a split block split plot design with four replications. One set of main plots included three oat density treatments (0, 63, and 127 plants m-2 ) while a second set included each crop species. Crop species mains plots were then split into subplots of two different seeding rates (a recommended and a doubled rate). All crop populations decreased as oat density increased and increased as crop seeding rate increased. As oat density increased, crop pre-harvest biomass decreased for all crops while oat biomass and yield increased. Oat biomass and yield was greater in legume plots compared to cereal plots. Increasing oat density decreased yields for all crops whereas crop seeding rate only increased yields for barley in 2011. Compared to lentil and pea, barley and wheat were taller, produced more biomass, and were more competitive with oat. Barley and wheat yields were greatest in weed-free conditions and decreased at both oat densities. Lentil and pea yields also decreased with increasing oat density, but were overall very low due to delayed spring planting and were not significantly affected by crop species or crop seeding rate.
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Details
- Title
- The relative competitiveness of spring crops in a dryland organic system in eastern Washington
- Creators
- Misha Rose Manuchehri
- Contributors
- Ian Cristofer Burke (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Crop and Soil Sciences, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; Pullman, Wash. :
- Identifiers
- 99900525069401842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis