Crop-weed interference as influenced by a leguminous or synthetic fertilizer nitrogen source: II. rotation experiments with crimson clover, field corn, and lambsquarters

Published source details Dyck E. & Liebman M. (1995) Crop-weed interference as influenced by a leguminous or synthetic fertilizer nitrogen source: II. rotation experiments with crimson clover, field corn, and lambsquarters. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 56, 109-120.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Incorporate plant remains into the soil that produce weed-controlling chemicals Action Link

Incorporate plant remains into the soil that produce weed-controlling chemicals

A series of replicated, randomised, controlled trials in 1989-1990 in Maine, USA (Dyck & Liebman 1995) (partly the same study as Dyck et al. 1995) found incorporating crimson clover Trifolium incarnatum residue reduced weed biomass and increased maize Zea mays growth in some years but not all. In two of four experiments, the weed lambsquarters Chenopodium album had 36-65% lower biomass in crimson clover plots than in plots receiving oat residue and mineral fertilizer, whilst the other two experiments found no difference between treatments. Number of emerging lambsquarters and other weeds was higher in crimson clover plots in one year out of two. Maize biomass was higher in clover than fertilizer plots in one out of two years, by 13-47% in weed-free plots and 50-131% in weedy plots. All plots received crimson clover or oat residue, planted in summer of the previous year and killed and incorporated into the soil in May. Clover and control plots were unfertilized, while fertilizer plots received ammonium nitrate fertilizer at 45 kg N/ha. Maize and lambsquarters were sown in May or June, together in one experiment and lambsquarters alone in the other.