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Flaming to control weeds in seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum Sw.) turfgrass
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Martelloni, Luisa Fontanelli, Marco Caturegli, Lisa Gaetani, Monica Grossi, Nicola Magni, Simone Peruzzi, Andrea Pirchio, Michel Raffaelli, Michele Volterrani, Marco Frasconi, Christian |
| Copyright Year | 2019 |
| Abstract | Weed control is crucial to ensure that turfgrass is established effectively. Although herbicides are commonly used to control weeds in turfgrasses, environmental and public health concerns have led to limiting or banning the use of synthetic herbicides in urban areas. The species seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum Sw.) is susceptible to such herbicides. Flame weeding could be an alternative to the use of synthetic herbicides for selective weed control in seashore paspalum. In this study, five different liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) doses of flaming (0, 61, 91, 157 and 237 kg ha–1) were tested in order to find the optimal dose, in terms of weed control and costs. The aim was to maintain a seashore paspalum (cultivar 'Salam') turf free of weeds during spring greenup, and at the same time avoid damaging the turfgrass. Using a self-propelled machine designed and built at the University of Pisa, flaming was applied three times when weeds started growing and the turfgrass started green-up. Our results highlight that an LPG dose of 157 kg ha–1 was the most economic dose that led to a significant reduction in initial weed cover and density, enabling the turfgrass to recover three weeks after the third application. Introduction Pressure is increasing on the turfgrass industry to reduce maintenance inputs (Brede, 2000). Turfgrass scientists and managers have thus been investigating turfgrass management systems that require lower inputs (Żurek and Tomaszewski, 2009). One of the most important traits for a low-input sustainable turf is the ability of the turfgrass to cover the ground. A good coverage reduces dust, mud, and weed problems (Diesburg et al., 1997). Weed control is crucial in order to ensure that turfgrass establishes in an optimal way (Abu-Dieyeh and Watson, 2005). Herbicides are commonly used to control weeds but environmental and public health concerns have led to legislation that limits or bans the use of synthetic herbicides in urban areas (Cisar, 2004; European Commission, 2009; Robbins and Birkenholtz, 2003). Few effective natural options for weed control in turfgrass are currently available, and bioherbicides derived from fungi do not offer a comparable effective broad-spectrum weed control to common synthetic herbicides (Smith et al., 2015). Cultural management practices to control weeds in turfgrass may reduce the dependence on synthetic herbicides. Busey (2003) used mowing to control turfgrass weeds and this provoked changes in population abundance and diversity of weeds, thereby creating new competitive species against turfgrass. Turfgrasses that do not require frequent artificial irrigations are less likely to be invaded by weeds (Żurek and Tomaszewski, 2009). Seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum Sw.) is a warmseason turfgrass known for its tolerance to drought (Trenholm et al., 2000). Seashore paspalum is commonly planted in tropical and warm temperature regions for golf courses, sports fields, and lawns (Duncan and Carrow, 2000). A major limitation of seashore paspalum weed management is the susceptibility to chemical herbicide injury when applied during active growth (Reed and McCullough, 2014; Yu et al., 2015). Turf managers apply herbicides in late winter or after the green-up (Reed and McCullough, 2014), however this is when weeds may already have colonised the turfgrass. Furthermore, seashore paspalum have been found to have poor spring green-up compared with other warm-season turfgrasses (Croce et al., 2001). Flame weeding could be an alternative to the use of chemical herbicides in seashore paspalum. In laboratory conditions, Fontanelli et al. (2017) tested the effects of flaming on seedlings of seashore paspalum transplanted into trays. They found that the seedlings were tolerant to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) doses of about 40 kg ha–1, which suggests that in mature established turfgrasses, which have a network of reserve rhizomes and stolons underground (Gaetani et al., 2017), the doses tolerated are likely to be higher. To the best of our knowledge, no information is available on the effects of flaming for controlling weeds in a mature turfgrass of seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum Sw.). The aim of this Correspondence: Luisa Martelloni, Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, via del Borghetto 80, 54124 Pisa, Italy. Tel.: +39.050.2218966. E-mail: lmartelloni@agr.unipi.it |
| Starting Page | 105 |
| Ending Page | 112 |
| Page Count | 8 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.4081/jae.2018.904 |
| Volume Number | 50 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://www.agroengineering.org/index.php/jae/article/download/jae.2019.904/754 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.4081/jae.2018.904 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
