Precision Guidance Techniques to Reduce Weed Competition and Production Costs in Cotton

Abstract

The objective of this project is to evaluate the benefits of precision guidance systems as a means of using tillage to kill weeds, and to confine herbicide applications to narrow bands. In cotton, a precision guided close cultivation with a directed spray of MSMA significantly reduced a purple nutsedge stand early on. However this reduction was not significant by the end of the season. For controlling woolly morningglory, the use of a precision guided cultivator equipped with in -row weeding devices resulted in much lower numbers of morningglory weeds, although the differences were not significant at the 95% confidence level. The guidance system kept the implement precisely aligned to the drill rows at a higher speed than was possible with the cooperator's non - precision cultivator. This higher productivity more than offsets the cost of the guidance system and the in-row weeding devices.