Does soil moisture impact electric weed control efficiency?

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

8-2024

Conference Title

23rd Australasian Weeds Conference - Breaking the Cycle: Towards Sustainable Weed Mangement

Place of Publication

Brisbane

ISBN

978-0-646-70156-1

Keywords

electro-weeding, Zasso, integrated weed management, continuous electrode-plant contact, spark-discharge method.

Disciplines

Weed Science

Abstract

Widespread herbicide resistance drives industry to look for alternatives to chemical weed management, like electric weed control. Electric weed control technologies pass an electric current through the plant foliage and into the roots and soil. It has been theorised that high soil moisture may reduce electric weed control efficiency. Wet soil has lower resistance than dry soil and increased opportunity for the electric current to dissipate out of the roots (i.e., electric ‘spray drift’). However, weed emergence and growth occur most rapidly in moist soil and growers are likely to require weed control in these conditions. The current research aimed to assess weed control by the continuous electrodeplant contact method (using the Zasso™ XPower with XPU applicator) in conditions of high or low soil moisture. In 2022 there was no difference in control of annual ryegrass, wild radish, and kikuyu at 21% and 25% volumetric soil water content. In 2023, control of annual ryegrass was reduced as volumetric water content increased from 9% to 16%. This research concludes that soil moisture can impact efficiency of electric weed control and should be considered during application. In wet conditions it may be necessary to reduce application speed, increasing the ‘dose’ of electric current received by individual plants.

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