Inter-Row Cultivation in Weed-Free Carrots: the Effect on Yield of Hoeing and Brush Weeding

Abstract

ABSTRACT Inter-row cultivation close to the row makes it possible to reduce the application of thermal or chemical weed control and also to save labour costs for hand weeding. Apart from the weed effect, inter-row tillage may also increase available water and nitrogen in the soil, affect soil temperature and crop roots. Three experiments were conducted in southern Sweden during 1988–1991, to study the influence of inter-row cultivation close to the row on yield and quality in weed-free carrots (Daucus carota). Carrots were grown in single rows at a row distance of 50 cm. A conventional hoe (Super Crop) and a powered brush weeder (Bärtschi) were driven at an early stage of the crop at two distances from the row, so that the untilled strip in the row was either 10 or 5–6 cm wide. In all three experiments the differences in yield between 10 and 5–6 cm wide untilled strips, and also between the hoe and the brush weeder, were not significant. When all the cultivated treatments were compared with the non-cultivated control, there was a tendency for increased yield of prime carrots in the cultivated treatments in two experiments, and a significantly decreased yield in one experiment. Cultivation caused a higher proportion of branched carrots in two years, but a lower proportion in one year.