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Light Quality and the Critical Period for Weed Control inSoybean

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Emily Green-Tracewicz
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Agriculture, Crop Science Building, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road E., Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1, Canada
Eric R. Page
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Agriculture, Crop Science Building, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road E., Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1, Canada
Clarence J. Swanton*
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Agriculture, Crop Science Building, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road E., Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1, Canada
*
Corresponding author's E-mail: cswanton@uoguelph.ca
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Abstract

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The critical period for weed control (CPWC) is an integral component ofintegrated weed management strategies. Several studies have defined the CPWCin soybean under varying agronomic conditions, yet none have described themechanisms involved in crop yield losses caused by weed competition. Wehypothesized that under nonresource-limiting conditions, morphologicalchanges resulting from the expression of shade avoidance could be used todefine a period of developmental sensitivity to low red-to-far-red ratio (R: FR) that would overlap with the defined CPWC in soybean. Two experiments(a sequential harvest and a weed addition/removal series) were conducted in2008 and 2009 under controlled environmental conditions to address thishypothesis. Two light-quality treatments were used: (1) high R : FR ratio(i.e., weed-free), and (2) low R : FR ratio (i.e., weedy). The low R : FRratio treatment induced shade avoidance responses in soybean, which includedincreases in height, internode length, and the shoot : root ratio, as wellas a reduction in biomass accumulation and leaf number. Using themorphological changes in biomass and leaf number observed in the weedaddition/removal series, a period of developmental sensitivity to low R : FRwas defined between the first trifoliate (V1) and third trifoliate (V3)stages of soybean development. This period was found to be very similar tothe CPWC previously defined by field studies of soybean–weedcompetition.

Information

Type
Weed Biology and Ecology
Copyright
Copyright © Weed Science Society of America