Abstract
Stagnant yields and declining soil health are common characteristics of high-intensity, low-residue cropping systems, such as potato, particularly in northeastern North America. Incorporating cultural practices including cover cropping and manure application is a way to combat declines in agroecosystem health and potato productivity. However, manure application and the use of cover crops may exacerbate weed issues through seedbank additions. This study was aimed at investigating how the cultural practices of cover cropping and manure application and their associated management activities can alter weed community dynamics and weed seedbank composition in a northeastern North American potato rotation. The study evaluated the use of eight cover crop mixtures—annual and perennial grasses and legumes—grown over two years with/without manure added in year one of the rotation. It also examined the effects of the cover crop mixtures and the presence/absence of manure on the weed community and on seedbank dynamics within a three-year potato rotation between 2019 and 2021. In year one of the study and directly after application, manure plots had greater weed seedbank density and species richness; however, this did not result in greater in-season weed biomass. Manure application resulted in a gradual decline in weed seedbank density over time regardless of cover crop treatment. Further, manure application increased the in-season competitive ability of cover crops, resulting in greater weed suppression per unit of cover crop biomass. In contrast, in the absence of manure, weed seedbank density remained largely unchanged through time regardless of cover crop treatment. We found that management practices associated with annual and perennial cover crops had distinct ecological filtering effects throughout the rotation on the weed community and prevented the dominance of any particular species. Together, our results demonstrate that combining the cultural practices of annual or perennial cover cropping and manure application contributes to weed suppression and should be considered an important component of sustainable potato production.
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Claims 10
Claim · model-written summary
Immediately after manure application, weed seedbank density was greater.
- Taxon
- potato
Solanum tuberosumt0 - Treatment
- manuree0
- Outcome
- weed seedbank densitye0
- Direction
- greatere0
- Setting
- northeastern North Americae1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“manure plots had greater weed seedbank density and species richness”
t0“potato rotation”
e1“northeastern North American potato rotation”
Claim · model-written summary
Immediately after manure application, weed species richness was greater.
- Taxon
- potatoSolanum tuberosumt0
- Treatment
- manuree0
- Outcome
- species richnesse0
- Direction
- greatere0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“manure plots had greater weed seedbank density and species richness”
t0“potato rotation”
Claim · model-written summary
The initial manure-associated seedbank increase did not cause greater in-season weed biomass.
- Taxon
- potatoSolanum tuberosumt0
- Treatment
- manure plotse0
- Outcome
- in-season weed biomasse0
- Direction
- did not result in greatere0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“manure plots had greater weed seedbank density and species richness; however, this did not result in greater in-season weed biomass”
t0“potato rotation”
Claim · model-written summary
Manure application gradually reduced weed seedbank density over time regardless of cover crop treatment.
- Taxon
- potatoSolanum tuberosumt0
- Treatment
- Manure applicatione0
- Outcome
- weed seedbank densitye0
- Direction
- gradual declinee0
- Qualifier
- regardless of cover crop treatmente0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Manure application resulted in a gradual decline in weed seedbank density over time regardless of cover crop treatment.”
t0“potato rotation”
Claim · model-written summary
Manure increased cover crops’ in-season competitive ability.
- Taxon
- cover cropse0
- Treatment
- manure applicatione0
- Outcome
- in-season competitive abilitye0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Verbatim
e0“manure application increased the in-season competitive ability of cover crops”
Claim · model-written summary
Manure increased weed suppression per unit of cover crop biomass.
- Taxon
- potatoSolanum tuberosumt0
- Treatment
- manure applicatione0
- Outcome
- weed suppression per unit of cover crop biomasse0
- Direction
- greatere0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“manure application increased the in-season competitive ability of cover crops, resulting in greater weed suppression per unit of cover crop biomass”
t0“potato rotation”
Claim · model-written summary
Without manure, weed seedbank density stayed largely unchanged over time across cover crop treatments.
- Taxon
- potatoSolanum tuberosumt0
- Outcome
- weed seedbank densitye0
- Direction
- remained largely unchangede0
- Qualifier
- regardless of cover crop treatmente0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“in the absence of manure, weed seedbank density remained largely unchanged through time regardless of cover crop treatment.”
t0“potato rotation”
Claim · model-written summary
Management associated with annual and perennial cover crops had distinct filtering effects on the weed community.
- Taxon
- potatoSolanum tuberosumt0
- Treatment
- management practices associated with annual and perennial cover cropse0
- Outcome
- distinct ecological filtering effectse0
Not reportedComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“management practices associated with annual and perennial cover crops had distinct ecological filtering effects throughout the rotation on the weed community”
t0“potato rotation”
Claim · model-written summary
Cover crop management prevented any single weed species from dominating.
- Taxon
- potatoSolanum tuberosumt0
- Treatment
- management practices associated with annual and perennial cover cropse0
- Outcome
- dominance of any particular speciese0
- Direction
- preventede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“management practices associated with annual and perennial cover crops had distinct ecological filtering effects throughout the rotation on the weed community and prevented the dominance of any particular species”
t0“potato rotation”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors recommend combining cover cropping and manure application for sustainable potato production and weed suppression.
- Taxon
- potatoSolanum tuberosume0
- Outcome
- combining the cultural practices of annual or perennial cover cropping and manure applicatione0
- Qualifier
- sustainable potato productione0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“combining the cultural practices of annual or perennial cover cropping and manure application contributes to weed suppression and should be considered an important component of sustainable potato production.”
The same questions in other papers
fertilization · ecology: diversity · Solanum tuberosum (potato)Positive and negative results
2 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
fertilization · weed · Solanum tuberosum (potato)Positive and negative results
7 papers in the same direction as this paper · 2 in the opposite direction
- no effect
- no effect
- positive
6 papers more in this group
See all 10 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.