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In Polyculture Cropping Systems Studies of the Functionality of Annual Crop and Weed Diversify in Polyculture Cropping Systems BY ANTHONY RALPH SZUMIGALSKI A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Plant Science University of Manitoba Wiruripeg, Manitoba @ Copyright by Anthony Ralph Szumigalski 2005 TIIE T]NIVERSITY OF MÄ,NITOBA FACULTY OF G.RADUATE STUDIES COPYRIGHT PERMISSION Studies of the Functionality of Annual Crop and Weed Diversity In Polyculture Cropping Systems BY Anthony Ralph Szumigalski A ThesisÆracticum submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba in partial fulfillment of the requirement of the degree Doctor Of Philosophy Anthony Ralph Szumigalski O 2005 I Permission has been granted to the Library of the University of Manitoba to lend or sell copies of I tnis thesis/practicum, to the National Library of Canada to microfilm this thesis and to lend or sell of the film, and to University Microfilms Inc. to pubtish an abstract of this thesis/practicum. , "opies I This reproduction or copy of this thesis has been made availabte by authority of the copyright :I o\üner solely for the purpose ofprivate study and research, and may only be reproduced and copied permiffed by copyright laws or with express written authorization from the copyright owner. ^s l1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank the following for making this thesis arealíty. First, I would like to sincerely thank my advisor, Dr. Rene Van Acker, for his valuable support and advice throughout this project, countless edits on the many drafts of this thesis, and for creating a lab environment that was productwe, challenging, respectful and collegial. To my advisory committee: thank you for your ideas and helpful comments that greatly improved this thesis. I am grateful to Dr. Martin Entz who was instrumental in initiating this project, providing support and for introducing me to a cropping systems ecology approach; to Dr. Rob Roughley for his ideas on the function of biodiversity and scientific writing; and to Dr. Norm Kenkel for advice, particularly in the areas of theoretical ecology and statistics. Thanks to the external examiner, Dr. Bill Deen from the University of Guelph and to Dr. Mario Tenuta for graciously serving as the chair of the Ph.D. oral exam. In the Weeds Lab: the countless number of summer students and assistants for their hard work, dedication, patience and humour; Technicians Rufus Oree and Andrea Bartlinski; Research Associate Lyle Friesen, and my fellow grad students. The faculty and support staff in the Department of Plant Science for their assistance. To my fellow graduate students in Plant Science and other deparfments @otany, Soil Science, etc.), I appreciate the camaraderie and cups of coffee. To my musical colleagues (The Mousehouse Band), thanks for providing a legitimate diversion from research. To management and support staff at Carman and JRI Kelbum Research Farms, the Department of Plant Science greenhouses, and the Department of Soil Science, for 111 providing excellent research facilities and maintaining equipment that allowed me to conduct this research. Major frrnding for this project was provided by Pesticide-Free Production, the Manitoba Rural Adaptation Council and Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, and by graduate fellowships from the University of Manitoba Faculty of Graduate Studies and the Land Institute. The support of many family members and friends, throughout my numerous years as a student is greatly appreciated. To my late parents: for providing me with a work ethic and lifelong love of plants. And especially to my wife and soulmate, CarlaZelmer, without whose love, encouragement and support, this thesis would not have been possible. iv LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 The 18 annual crops used in the crop richness experiment, categorized into three agronomic groups .............6g 3.2 The 29 barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivars (Watson 2004) used in the cultivar richness experiment, categorizedinto three agronomic groups (value in brackets indicates two- or six-row cultivars) ......................6g 3.3 The 21 annual weed species used in the weed species richness experiment...............71 3.4 Barley yield and biomass components as affected by barley cultivar richness treatments for experimental runs in200T and2003 ...............77 3'5 The effect of crop richness on wild oat (WO) yietd and biomass components for experiments run in 2002 and2003.......... ..............g4 3.6 The effect of barley cultivar richness on wild oat (WO) yield and biomass components for experiments run in 2002 and2003.......... ......g7 3.7 The effect of weed species richness on wheat yield and biomass components for experiments run in 2001 and 2003.......... ..............gg 3.8 Effect of crop, barley cultivar or weed species richness on canopy light interception for five weekly sampling dates in 2003......... ......................90 4.1 Comparison of physical and chemical properties in the top 15 cm of soil prior to crop emergence at the six site-years of the experiment ....107 4.2Dates of seeding, recruitment measurements, in-crop herbicide applications and harvests for the six site- years of the field experiment......... .................. i07 4.3 The effect of crop treatment (w: wheat, c:canora, p : peas, ww: double density wheat) on mean weed or crop seedling recruitment density prior to in-crop herbicide applications over six site-years ............... ...................I12 4.4 Relative weed density (R\\fD) and biomass (RWB) for different intercropping treatments ('w: wheat, c :canol4 p : peas) in the absence of in-crop trìì¡ici¿e over six site-years ...........113 4.5 The effect of crop treatment (w: wheat, c:canola, p : peas, w-w : double density wheat) on mean weed biomass in the absence or pr"sence of in-crop herbicide over six site-years .............114 4'6 Competition indices for the'ability to compete' (AC) and the 'ability to withstand competition'(A'ü/C) for different crop treatments :canola, p : 'W-W (w: wheat, C peas, : double density wheat) over six site-years 'w-w: .................I21 4-7 The effect of crop treatment (w: wheat, c :canolâ, p : peas, double density wheat) on mean crop biomass in the presence ot ãbr"nr" of in-crop herbicide over six site-years 'w-w: .............123 4.8 The effect of crop treatment (w: wheat, c:canola, p : peas, double density wheat) on mean grain yield in the presence or abience of in-crop herbicide over five site-years.. ..........125 4.9 Land equivalent ratios (LER), based on crop biomass or grain yield for different intercropping treatments (w: wheat, p: c =anola, peás) initre presence and absence of in-crop herbicide over six site-years.. .................131 v 5.1 The effect of crop treatment ('W: wheat, C :canola, p: peas,'WW: double density wheat) on the least squares mean (LSM) of the differences between fal soil NO:-N quantities adjusted for initial spring NO3-N values (covariate) for a soil prof,rle depth of 60 cm over four 'WW: site-years5.1 Effect of crop treatment ('W: wheat, C^:canola" p: peas, double density wheat) on canopy light interception in the presence of in-crop herbicides for different sampling dates at four site-yeurr............ ................r43 5.2Efreú of crop treatment (w: wheat, c:canola, p: peas, w-w: double density wheat) on canopy light interception in the absence oii.t-crop herbicides for different sampling dates at four site-years............. 'ww: ...............T47 5.3 The effect of crop treatment (w : wheat, c :canola, p : peas, double density wheat) on mean volumetric soil moisture in the top 6 cm of the soil profile over several sampling periods at Carman in2002 and 2003 ......14g 5.4 The effect of crop treatment (W: wheat, C :canola, p : peas, W-W.: double density wheat) on the least squares mean (LSM) of soil profile (below a depth of 10 cm) water content during July and August in the presence or absence of in-crop herbicide at Carman in2002 and 2003 (n: 5 for each year)......... ......I54 5.5 The effect of crop treatment (W: wheat, C:canola, p : peas, W-W: double density wheat) on the least squares mean (LSM) of the differences between fall soil NO¡-N quantities adjusted for initial spring NO3-N values (covariate) for a soil profile depth of 60 cm over four site-years ............159 5.6 The effect of crop treatment (w: wheat, c:canora, p : peas, w-w: double density wheat) on mean aboveground crop dry matter N òoncentr ation (%) prior to grain harvest in late July to early August over four site-yeurr ............ ........162 5.7 The effect of crop treatment (w : wheat, c:canorã,p :peas, ww: double density wheat) on crop grain N concentrati on (%) and canola grain oil concentration over six site-years ......163 5.8 The effect of crop treatment (w: wheat, c :canolâ, p : peas, ww: double densitywheat) on crop grain N yield over six site-years................ ........16g 5.9 Nitrogen land equivalent ratios OILER), based on crop dry matter or grain yield for different intercrop treatments (w: wheat, c :canolâ, p : pãas) in the presence and absence of in-crop herbicide over six site-years ...............169 5.10 The effect of crop treatment (w: wheat, c :canola, p : peas, w-w: double density wheat) on mean aboveground weed dry matter N õoncentration (% N) and accumulation (kg N ha-t) prior to grain harvest in late July to early Àugust in the absence of in-crop herbicide over four site-years.. .....L73 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3 I Effect of (a) ' crop or barley (b) richness on total above-ground dry crop or barley biomass production for experimental runs in2002 and-2003....._......-.... .................74 3.2Effect of crop (a),.barley cultivar (b) or weed species richness (c) on the coefficient of variation (CV) for aboveground dry biomass forexperiments run over two years 'W.eed, ...........76 3'3 wheat and total aboveground dry biomass as affected by weed species richness treatments for 2001 and2003 experimental runs ...................7g 3'4Influence of crop and barley cultivar richness on mean coefficient of variation (CV) forplant height for experiments run in 2002 and.2003........
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