AN ECONOMIC THRESHOLD-MODEL FOR SPRAYING HERBICIDES IN CEREALS

A model has been developed for calculating the economic benefit of early spraying of herbicides in wheat and barley crops, using data derived from routine herbicide evaluation field experiments. Annual grass and broadleaf weed densities are converted to weed units using a weighting for the competitiveness of each species. The absolute yield benefit (kg ha-1) from controlling a forecast proportion of estimated weed units present when the crop is sprayed at or before the early tillering stage has three major determinants: the weed-free yield potential of the crop (kg ha-1); the number of weed units m-2 at spraying; and the relative growth stages of weeds and crop at spraying. The weight of evidence from the data used indicates that there is an approximately linear relationship between weed density after spraying and grain yield. We have based the model on this expectation, which contrasts with the strongly curvilinear relationship of yield and unsprayed weed density. It is suggested that this difference is attributable to the effects of the herbicide treatments on surviving weeds, which are less competitive with the crop than untreated weeds.