Title:

Effects of Pesticides and Tillage on Weed Seedling Emergence over a Growing Season

Pesticide seed treatments (coating seeds with insecticides and/or fungicides, hereafter “PST”) are common in conventional maize and soybean production; however, little is known about how PST may affect the natural enemies of weeds and weed population dynamics. We conducted a field experiment in New Hampshire in which we planted identical genotypes of maize and soybean with (PST) and without (Control) PST under conventional and no-tillage and quantified the effects of these treatments on weed seedling emergence from the soil seed bank over the growing season. We did not detect an effect of PST on weed seedling emergence in the conventionally tilled system. In the no-tillage system, a greater number of weed seedlings emerged over the period after the final glyphosate application in the PST treatment compared to the control. These results suggest that PST use has the potential to alter weed communities in corn and soybean production systems. Research is underway to determine the mechanism(s) by which PST alters weed seedbank and emergent weed community dynamics.

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