Harrington seed destructor evaluation at field scale in Alberta

Project Summary

Herbicide resistant weeds continue to increase in incidence and frequency, limiting weed management options available to producers. New management strategies are needed for producers to continue to successfully manage their weeds.

Harvest weed seed control (HWSC) is a paradigm of weed control that focuses on managing weeds that are being spread by the combine harvester. These weeds retain their seeds until crop harvest, produce weeds at a height where they can be collected, and are successfully taken into the combine. One method of harvest weed seed control that may have a fit in western Canada are the physical impact mills. The original tow-behind Harrington Seed Destructor is an example of an impact mill that is available for testing in western Canada.

From 2017-2019, twenty producer fields had research plots established in weedy areas. These plots were broken into either untreated checks, or harvested with the Harrington Seed Destructor. Seedling counts were conducted the following springs (2018-2020). In 2020, weed seedbank samples were also collected.

Results of the seedling counts are showing minimal statistically significant differences in terms of reducing weed seedling populations. There are some numeric trends that suggest early levels of success in managing some of the top weed species in these fields, but certainly not all of them.

The plan is for additional analyses to be completed once the seedbank data is available, including complete population density ANOVAs and multivariate analyses to determine the impact of cropping system and harvest with the HSD on the weed populations.

Read the Field testing of a physical impact mill in the Canadian Prairies publication for final conclusions.