TITLE:
Preliminary Trial of Cover Cropping and Weed Control for Organic Rice
AUTHORS:
Gena R. Mahato, Anna McClung, Sixte Ntamatungiro, Surendra Singh, Meghnath Pokharel, Vince Wiley, Bihu Huang
KEYWORDS:
Organic Farming, Water Seeding, Flooding, Plastic Mulch Covering, Weed Pressure, Varietal Selection, Biomass
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.8 No.11,
October
23,
2017
ABSTRACT: The experiment
site at UAPB agronomy farm was left undisturbed for several years for organic rice experiment. Soil samples
taken in September 2015 showed that the experiment site was deficient with plant
nutrients (NPK). Therefore, an organic fertilizer, Nature (8-5-5) was applied before
planting mixture of crimson clover and winter wheat as cover crop in fall 2015.
Biomass samples taken from the cover cropped land (CCL) and fallow land (FL) resulted
in decrease in weed biomass by 33.36% and increase in total biomass by 46.78% in
CCL than FL. Cover crops were incorporated one month before the rice sowing in June
2016. Fifteen rice cultivars were experimented for weed competition under water
seeding cultivation method. Water seeding method was not effective to control the
weeds as weeds dominated most of the rice plots since seedling stage. However, two
rice cultivars namely Jasmine 85 and Rondo showed strong weed competition due to
higher plant stand and better seedling establishment.