By Agrositio. 14/12/2020 | 17:12
The weed problem continues unabated in the center and north of Cordoba. According to the latest survey by the Red Agropecuaria de Vigilancia Tecnolgica (RAVIT), the individual sum of the complicated weed cover amounts to 5,600,000 hectares in the area. But the alarm lights go on when that figure is broken down: more than 30% of that area (1,591,000 hectares) has perennial weeds and another 30% has annual grasses (1,535,000 hectares). “This means that we have perennial weeds, annual grasses and broadleaf, all within the same batch”, Luis Lanfranconi alerted.
The INTA Ro Primero specialist and technician was the main speaker at the conference “Recalculating weed management”, organized by RAVIT. There he warned about the great agronomic challenge that this new advance of weeds implies and called for a break with the status quo. “We have to plan something different so as not to continue investing money just to get out and harvest the crop this year,” he remarked.
In his opinion, chemical solutions are not enough to contain the problem: “We must add knowledge and technical management experiences to go from a technology of inputs to one of processes”. Working with more competitive cultivars that can quickly cover the furrows, efficient fertilization that supports this initial aggressive development and making adjustments in density and sowing date, are some of the practices listed by Lanfranconi that have already proven their success in the management weed.
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In turn, the expert warned about another number revealed by RAVIT: the presence of revisions in up to 30% of the grass surface. “Most of the time, post-emergent applications of graminicides are made and this means a very high selection pressure. We have to find strategies to be able to do an efficient control in pre-emergence”, he stated.
Meanwhile, at the top of the producers’ concerns, the Yuyo Colorado continues to appear, accompanied by Black Branch and Sorgo from Aleppo. According to the RAVIT report, Eleusine and two other perennial weeds follow with a medium presence and difficulty to control: Commelina Erecta and Borreria. Finally, to a lesser extent but very difficult to combat, two other perennial weeds appear: Pappophorum and Gomphrena.
Peligro, carry over
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To all this scenario, Lanfranconi added the aggravation caused by the Nia event and the lack of rain. “In our area we have had very little rainfall since April and this will undoubtedly have consequences. And the first thing we have to think about is the carry over of herbicides,” he said.
In that sense, the recommendation went first to the overlap of herbicides. “In the last five years we have had excellent experiences with this type of treatment. When the seed bank is important, the best option is to position herbicides in the short fallow, in the pre-emergence and in the early post-emergence, always with mixtures and different mechanisms. of action. In this way, we improve between 10% and 15% the control levels of the premergents “, he assured.
On the other hand, also reducing the distance between rows can be an effective practice. “We should be able to work at 35 cm or even down to 26 cm, especially with soybeans that are sown in December,” he added. Adding adjuvants and opting for highly competitive varieties are also promising practices: “The speed of initial growth is very important to tackle the problem.” Finally, you have to select the right time for the applications. “We should try to avoid this work between 11 am and 5 pm, because it is the period where the environment is most demanding for the application of herbicides,” he concluded.
Solutions for times of water shortage
“The birth flows of the weeds are going to be conditioned this year by the low flow of rainfall,” added Alejandro Pieiro, manager of herbicides at UPL, when showing the palette of solutions that the company offers for weed control. Given this scenario of drought, the executive recommended the use of Dinamic in corn, a residual pre-emergent herbicide that is characterized by its ability to activate even with low levels of soil moisture.
Meanwhile, Blazer and Lifeline are the other two UPL products that do not present carry over risks. “They are two herbicides that give a lot of security on the crops of the following year”, Pieiro reaffirmed. The former is the product with the lowest phytotoxicity scale for post-emergent soybean applications and is very well positioned for the control of Yuyo Colorado. Meanwhile, Lifeline is a contact herbicide with a totally differential mode of action that allows it to be applied to glufosinate-ammonium-resistant maize. “In addition, it has very good performance on broad-leaved weeds and resistant grasses”, he clarified.
How do we continue?
“We are close to closing an agreement with INTA and the Catholic University of Cordoba to work on crop stress,” said Esteban Tronfi, CEO of RAVIT, when outlining the next steps of the initiative that with the support of UPL has been taking carried out for three campaigns in the center and north of Cordoba. “The future is in line with the drought problem currently affecting the entire Argentine countryside. Firstly, due to climate change and the depletion of soils, but also due to the increasing level of demand in the environments and the higher levels of yields that are required, “he explained. Therefore, with the support of UPL, the project will focus not only on management tools that help crop recovery, but also on explaining the dynamics of stress recovery.
The leader of the innovative project from which 120 agronomic variables are analyzed in 200 sites located in more than 2 million hectares also recorded that they closed an agreement with the Brazilian artificial intelligence company SpaceTime Labs to be able to address the innumerable amount of agricultural data that today they are available. “There are three major sources of information that we are exploring: sensors from space, from the ground and from the field. We must bear in mind that today all the equipment that treads a field makes a great contribution. Only a modern combine produces more than 13,000 data per hectare “.
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