Special Issue "Advances in Basic and Applied Research on Weed Seed Dormancy, Germination, and Early Growth"

A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Protection, Diseases, Pest and Weeds".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2023 | Viewed by 1226

Special Issue Editors

CNR, Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection IPSP, National Research Council of Italy, Viale dell'Università 16, Padua, Italy
Interests: integrated weed management; seed germination; weed emergence; herbicide resistance; mechanical weed control; sustainable agriculture; organic farming
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment—DAFNAE, University of Padua, 35020 Legnaro, Italy
Interests: precision weed control; invasive weed species; seed germination; weed emergence; innovative solutions for weed control
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In a constantly changing world and with the continuous population increase, maintaining food security becomes more important. Considering the negative impact of weeds on plant production, improving weed control remains one of the pillars of sustainable agriculture. In order to achieve a satisfying level of weed control, it is paramount to have a solid knowledge of weed biology, especially about their initial life phases that are crucial for the establishment of the weed flora and its competitiveness with crops. It is therefore important to conduct in-depth studies on dormancy, germination, and emergence processes of weed species, especially addressing the great variability observed both at the interspecific and intraspecific levels.

Similarly, assessing how different management tactics could influence the breaking of dormancy, germination, and emergence of weed seeds is crucial, especially considering the innovations that are lately gaining momentum in agriculture.

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue with original research articles or reviews that advance the knowledge on weed dormancy, germination, and emergence, as well as test the effect of different techniques on these crucial phases of the weed lifecycle. Such techniques could include but are not limited to allelopathy, different soil management, mulching, cover crops or different techniques of precision weed control.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Donato Loddo
Dr. Nebojša Nikolić
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agriculture is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • weeds
  • dormancy
  • germination
  • emergence
  • allelopathy
  • cover crops
  • mulching
  • precision weed control

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
Germination Ecology of African Lovegrass (Eragrostis curvula) and Herbicide Options for Its Control
Agriculture 2023, 13(5), 920; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13050920 - 22 Apr 2023
Viewed by 880
Abstract
African lovegrass (Eragrostis curvula) is one of the invasive perennial grasses that continues to disturb natural ecosystems globally. Experiments were conducted in southeast Queensland, Australia, to evaluate the effects of temperature, salt stress, water stress, burial depth, and sorghum crop residue [...] Read more.
African lovegrass (Eragrostis curvula) is one of the invasive perennial grasses that continues to disturb natural ecosystems globally. Experiments were conducted in southeast Queensland, Australia, to evaluate the effects of temperature, salt stress, water stress, burial depth, and sorghum crop residue load on the emergence and efficacy of postemergence herbicides on two populations (Clifton and Crows Nest) of E. curvula. The optimal germination temperature regimes for E. curvula were 30/20 and 35/25 °C, but seeds did not germinate at temperatures commonly occurring in the Queensland winter (15/5 °C). Total darkness inhibited germination by 79%, indicating that the shade cover effect would reduce germination of E. curvula. The Clifton population tolerated a higher concentration of sodium chloride (160 mM) and osmotic potential (−0.8 MPa). Under both salt and water stress, germination was 31% and 20% greater in the Clifton population than in Crows Nest, respectively, suggesting that the Clifton population is more tolerant to salt and drought stress. The maximum germination was obtained for the surface seeds while emergence declined with increased burial depth up to 4 cm. No seedlings emerged from the 8 cm depth. The addition of sorghum residue amounts up to 8 Mg ha−1 to the soil surface inhibited emergence compared to the no-residue treatment, suggesting that retention of heavy cereal residue will further delay or restrict emergence. Several postemergence herbicides were found to be effective in controlling E. curvula at an early stage. Information from this study will further compliment earlier studies on the targeted management of E. curvula populations. Full article
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