The regional weed vegetation in organic spring-sown cereals as shaped by local management, crop diversity and site

Abstract

Mecklenburg Vorpommern has one of the highest percentages of organic arable production nationwide. Weeds remain to be the main challenge within this agricultural system. There is also an increase in the national support of agrobiodiversity. Weeds should therefore be continuously kept within manageable limits, while on the other side encourage a specie rich weed flora. Our objective is to investigate to which extent these two aspects can be addressed through the use of diversified crop management. In order to research this objective, weed and management data of spring sown cereal crops were obtained from organic farms in the region over the course of two years (2015-2016). The impact of the local environment and management factors on the occurring weed communities was studied in multivariate analysis approaches, followed by the separate crop diversity effects. We found a fundamental difference between the workings of the short-term management, the long-term crop diversification strategies and the more continuos site variables on the weed vegetation. Weed densities were mostly affected by direct management, while weed diversity and communities were altered through the application of crop diversity variables.