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Harvest weed seed control, or HWSC, is a novel, non-chemical method developed in Australia that takes advantage of many dominant annual weed species’ ability to retain seeds at maturity. Harvest weed seed control systems concentrate on the management and processing of chaff, which contains the majority of weed seeds.
Pulling, digging, disking, plowing, and mowing are examples of these techniques. The life cycle of the target weed species determines how well various mechanical control methods work. On annual and biennial species like kochia, musk thistle, and diffuse knapweed, hand pulling and digging are effective.
Pre-emergent herbicides prevent the germination of weed seeds. They are made to target specific weed families or combinations. Simply apply the pre-emergent to your garden in the early spring or after you have finished cultivating to stop weed seeds from germinating. Equipment used for tillage and harvesting frequently scatters weed seeds.
Vegetative structures frequently travel on tillage and cultivation equipment, dropping them in other fields to start new infestations, and seeds move from field to field on the soil that sticks to tractor tires.
Dormancy is the safe storage of seeds or buds until the underlying cause is resolved. It helps weeds avoid herbicides and other weed control measures as well as unfavorable environmental conditions, which both contribute to their survival rate.
The Global harvest weed seed control market accounted for $XX Billion in 2022 and is anticipated to reach $XX Billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of XX% from 2023 to 2030.
The Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station is participating in research to combat weeds that are resistant to herbicides. A relatively new method in the United States that has been investigated in collaboration by weed scientists from Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri is based on the strategy of catching weed seeds before they start a new generation of herbicide-resistant plants.
According to Norsworthy’s explanation, the seeds can either be laid out in a “chaff line” or caught in the chaff and crushed by a seed mill to produce a mulching effect.
Chaff lining calls for a baffle and chute on the harvester to consolidate the chaff into a 20- to 24-inch-wide row on the ground behind the harvester because the majority of the weed seeds are in the chaff. The chutes can be made by farmers or purchased from a commercial source.
Seed crushers crush seeds by catching them and crushing them, as their name implies. However, some seed crushers may be better suited to various crops and weed species. That is also a part of the study of the experiment station. Michael Walsh, associate professor and director of weed research at the University of Sydney, pioneered harvest weed seed control in Australia.
According to Norsworthy, the technique has been widely used there to catch weed seeds as they pass through a combine during harvest. At the Northeast Research and Extension Center in Keiser, which is part of the Division of Agriculture, experiments on seed crushing and chaff lining have been carried
