Integrated Weed Management systems allow reduced reliance on herbicides and long-term weed control

Current concerns about the environmental impacts of pesticide use in agriculture require the investigation of novel cropping systems that would reduce their reliance on pesticides. In this paper, we report on an experiment carried out over 6 years to assess the performance of four cropping systems based on Integrated Weed Management (IWM) as compared to a reference standard system. Systems differed in crop rotations, soil tillage, mechanical and chemical weeding and crop management. Fewer herbicides were applied in IWM-based systems as compared to the reference, resulting in a lower environmental impact. Over the 6 years, we detected no significant increase in the density of winter or summer annual broad-leaved, and of grassy weeds in IWM systems, with one exception that is discussed. These results indicate that the combination of various IWM techniques allow both the long-term control of arable weeds and a significantly reduced reliance on herbicides.