Winter Rye Helps Control Soy Weeds

LANSING - Feb 3/04 - SNS -- Interseeding winter cereal rye could be useful in controlling weeds in fields of organic soybeans, suggest the results of research by a Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station (MAES) crop and soil scientist published in the January-February 2004 issue of Agronomy Journal.

Traditionally, organic growers have used only mechanical cultivation to control weeds, but this method has been shown to cause soil erosion and lead to poor soil structure.

Conventional soybean growers have used cover crops successfully in conjunction with herbicides to reduce cultivation and control weeds. The scientists hypothesized that an adaptation of this technique could also be useful for organic growers.

"Organic growers needed new techniques that meshed with organic systems and had a more positive effect on soil quality, particularly soil structure," said Kurt Thelen, MAES crop and soil sciences researcher at Michigan State University.

The subscriber version of the article is available by Clicking here