Growing competitive sorghum and mungbean crops to suppress summer weeds

Abstract

Take home message
• Feathertop Rhodes grass (FTR) and awnless barnyard grass (ABG) are both difficult to control summer grass weeds with both species prone to herbicide resistance evolution
• Growing a competitive sorghum or mungbean crop can reduce growth and seed production of FTR and ABG
• ABG is more susceptible to the impacts of crop competition than FTR
• Sorghum competitiveness can be increased by growing the crop at a narrow row spacing (50 cm) and increased density (10 to 15 plants/m2)
• Mungbean competitiveness is most effectively increased through the use of narrow row spacing (25 and 50 cm)
• Consider growing a competitive summer crop to take pressure off relying solely on in-crop herbicides for summer grass control.