Increased Weed Emergence and Seed Bank Depletion by Soil Disturbance in a No-tillage System

D. Mulugeta and D. E. Stoltenberg

The influence of secondary soil disturbance on the emergence pattern and seed bank depletion of an annual weed community in a long-term, no-tillage corn cropping system was determined in 1992 and 1993. As a component of this research, the seed bank was characterized prior to implementation of soil disturbance treatments. The seed bank was initially composed of the following weed species, common lambsquarters, redroot pigweed, and giant foxtail, with about 55, 36, and 8% of the total viable seeds, respectively. The remaining 1% was comprised of five and eight other species in 1992 and 1993, respectively. The spatial distribution of viable seeds of each species, except common lambsquarters and redroot pigweed, was described by a negative binomial distribution. Three dispersion indices indicated that seeds of individual and total weed species were aggregated, and that the level of aggregation of viable seeds of a species was associated with seed density; at lower seed densities, the level of aggregation was greater. Soil disturbance increased common lambsquarters emergence 6 fold in 1992, relative to nondisturbed soil, but did not influence emergence in 1993. Rainfall was about 50% less in 1993. In contrast, soil disturbance increased giant foxtail and redroot pigweed emergence approximately 6 and 3 fold, respectively, in each year. Seedling emergence associated with soil disturbance, relative to nondisturbed soil, increased seed bank depletion of common lambsquarters 16 fold in 1992, and giant foxtail and redroot pigweed an average of 6 and 3 fold, respectively, in 1992 and 1993. These results indicated that soil disturbance increased seedling emergence and seed bank depletion of the predominant species in the weed community of a long-term, no-tillage system, but that this response was rainfall dependent for common lambsquarters.

Weed Sci. 45:234-241 (1997)