A Beltwide Study to Evaluate Long-Term Impact of Integrated Palmer Amaranth Management Tactics in Cotton

The threats to croplands experiencing resistant weed pressures are increasingly important as crop productivity and profitability are directly impacted. At the same time agriculturalists must produce at an unprecedented pace to provide for a growing global population, begging the critical need for sustainable solutions to combat critical yield limiting factors such as weeds. Including cereal rye as a cover crop in a herbicide-based regime has been shown to effectively control Palmer amaranth in cotton and significantly improve yield. Coupled with early-season weed suppression through direct competition or allelopathy, a cover crop system may increase available soil moisture and thus has been shown to increase yields under drought conditions. Palmer amaranth populations mine these critical resources from crops, impacting farm profitability. Cotton lint yields and Palmer amaranth populations have been shown to be inversely related, with densities reducing lint yields up to 92%, or an estimated 5 to 9% decrease per kg of Palmer amaranth biomass in a given area. Addressing this weed problem is a critical need for cotton producers. Although our proposal is aiming to address Palmer amaranth in cotton, the multi-tactic approach we hope to develop could be implemented across row crop systems experiencing resistant weed issues in general.