Abstract
Abstract Redroot pigweed ( Amaranthus retroflexus L.) is among the most troublesome weeds in the Intermountain West affecting corn ( Zea mays L.) production and contributing to significant yield losses, in addition to losses caused by water stress. Improvements in agricultural technology such as use of drought-tolerant (DT) corn hybrids has helped minimize the impact of water stress on corn yields. However, it is not known how the use of hybrids affects the interactions between weeds and corn. This work evaluated the competitive effects of A. retroflexus on DT and drought-susceptible (DS) corn hybrids exposed to optimal and reduced irrigation levels in a semi-controlled study. The semi-controlled environment was established in a rainout shelter with corn maintained at a density of 66,482 plants ha −1 and A. retroflexus varied at densities of 0, 33,241, and 66,482 plants ha −1 that were then provided either optimal or reduced irrigation (100% and 50%). We observed a 45% reduction in the shoot biomass of DS corn under reduced irrigation, while the shoot biomass of DT corn remained the same under both irrigation levels in Season 1. In Season 2, both hybrids experienced a decrease in shoot biomass under reduced irrigation. Amaranthus retroflexus exhibited an 80% increase in shoot biomass when growing with DS corn exposed to reduced irrigation, compared with its growth with DS corn exposed to optimal irrigation. Conversely, DT corn negatively impacted A. retroflexus shoot biomass under reduced irrigation, resulting in only a 9% difference between the reduced and optimally irrigated plots. These findings suggest that DT corn may mitigate water stress while also providing the additional benefit of improved competition against weeds, effectively suppressing their growth in water-stressed environments.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 5
Claim · model-written summary
Reduced irrigation lowered drought-susceptible corn shoot biomass by 45% in Season 1.
- Taxon
- corn
Zea mays subsp. mayse0 - Material
- DS corne0
- Treatment
- reduced irrigatione0
- Outcome
- shoot biomasse0
- Direction
- reductione0
- Value
- 45%e0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“We observed a 45% reduction in the shoot biomass of DS corn under reduced irrigation”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought-tolerant corn shoot biomass remained unchanged across irrigation levels in Season 1.
- Taxon
- cornZea mays subsp. mayse0
- Material
- DT corne0
- Treatment
- both irrigation levelse0
- Outcome
- shoot biomasse0
- Direction
- remained the samee0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the shoot biomass of DT corn remained the same under both irrigation levels in Season 1”
Claim · model-written summary
Both corn hybrids had lower shoot biomass under reduced irrigation in Season 2.
- Taxon
- cornZea mays subsp. mayst0
- Material
- both hybridse0
- Treatment
- reduced irrigatione0
- Outcome
- shoot biomasse0
- Direction
- decreasee0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“In Season 2, both hybrids experienced a decrease in shoot biomass under reduced irrigation”
t0“corn hybrids”
Claim · model-written summary
Pigweed shoot biomass was 80% higher with drought-susceptible corn under reduced than optimal irrigation.
- Taxon
- cornZea mays subsp. mayse0
- Material
- DS corne0
- Treatment
- reduced irrigatione0
- Interactor
- Amaranthus retroflexus
Amaranthus retroflexuse0weed - Outcome
- Amaranthus retroflexus exhibited an 80% increase in shoot biomasse0
- Direction
- increasee0
- Value
- 80%e0
- Comparator
- optimal irrigatione0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Amaranthus retroflexus exhibited an 80% increase in shoot biomass when growing with DS corn exposed to reduced irrigation, compared with its growth with DS corn exposed to optimal irrigation”
Claim · model-written summary
With drought-tolerant corn, pigweed shoot biomass differed by only 9% between irrigation levels.
- Taxon
- cornZea mays subsp. mayse0
- Material
- DT corne0
- Treatment
- reduced irrigatione0
- Interactor
- A. retroflexusAmaranthus retroflexuse0weed
- Outcome
- A. retroflexus shoot biomasse0
- Direction
- negatively impactede0
- Value
- 9%e0
- Comparator
- optimally irrigated plotse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“DT corn negatively impacted A. retroflexus shoot biomass under reduced irrigation, resulting in only a 9% difference between the reduced and optimally irrigated plots”
The same questions in other papers
irrigation · growth · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
80 papers in the same direction as this paper · 208 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
285 papers more in this group
See all 289 papers →irrigation · Amaranthus retroflexus · Zea mays (maize)Results agree
1 paper in the same direction as this paper
- positive
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.