Canada's Organic Science Cluster

Activity B.1: Changing weed populations under long-term organic crop production

Objectives:

The hypothesis of this study is that the weed population dynamics differ between organic and conventional cropping systems. It is believed that weeds are more common under diverse organic cropping systems but less problematic. 
The overall objective of this experiment is to determine how weed population dynamics differ between organic and conventional cropping systems and rotations.

To do this the following sub-objectives will be addressed:

1. Determine how cropping system and rotation affect weed populations (plant density, seed bank density) over time
2. Determine how weed populations affect weed biomass, crop yield and crop yield loss
3. Determine how drivers of weed population dynamics including seed bank survival, seedling emergence and biomass accumulation differ between cropping system and rotation.

Learn More:

• Activity Summary
• Background and Supporting Documents
• Activity Researchers

Interesting Results to Date:

Stay tuned for a listing of reports, newspaper articles, and extension bulletins

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