The following are abstracts associated with presentation made at the recent APRES meeting.
Weed Risk Tools for Peanut and Other Crops in North Carolina
G. BUOL and D. JORDAN*, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695.
Weeds can have a major negative impact on crop yield. Weed suppression is obtained by implementing a range of cultural practices and applying herbicides at various points in the life cycle of the crop. Developing comprehensive strategies for weed management can be challenging because knowledge of interactions among tactics may not been known or readily accessible. Risk management tools for corn, cotton, peanut, sweetpotato, and tobacco were developed using Microsoft Excel to allow practitioners to view risk to yield for interactions among cultural practices (e.g., crop density and row orientation, cover crops, cropping sequence, hybrid or variety selection, planting date, and herbicides). Risk for elements in categories of management were assigned a numerical value for risk and a financial cost. For a specific crop and suite of management, practitioners can observe overall risk to yield and cost of decreasing risk. The Microsoft Excel platform allows advisors to adjust risk of practices, add new practices or remove practices that are no longer relevant, and change pricing structures when needed.
Research Addressing Production and Pest Management Issues in Peanut in Northern Ghana
A.M. SEIDU, M. ABUDULAI, G.Y. MAHAMA, I.SUGRI, J.A. NBOYINE, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Savanna Agricultural Research Institute, Tamale and Wa, Ghana; I.K. DZOMEKU, Department of Crop Science, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana, S. ARTHURand G. BOLFREY-ARKU, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Crops Research Institute, Kumasi, Ghana; D. JORDAN*, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695; and G. MACDONALD, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611.
Research with innovative approaches to production and pest management is limited in northern Ghana. To address this limitation, research was conducted at three locations over two years (2023 and 2024) to determine pest reaction and peanut yield of two varieties (Chitaochi and Sarinut 2) in the following trials; 1) digging date (14 and 7 days prior to optimum maturity, at optimum maturity, and 7 and 14 days after optimum maturity), 2) planting method (broadcast and in rows) and plant spacing (30 and 15 cm apart), 3) number of fungicide applications (0, 1, 2, and 3 applications), and 4) weed management (no weed control, 1 or 2 hand weeding’s only, preemergence herbicide with or without subsequent hand weeding, and postemergence herbicide with or without hand weeding. The digging date treatments were compared in 7 trials with the other 3 trials conducted 6 times. A wide range of pest measurements were collected; however, in this presentation, yield response pooled over trials is reported.
Two-way and three-way interactions were not significant for the trial that included varieties, planting methods, and plant spacings. Main effects for each treatment factor were significant. The variety Sarinut 2 yielded greater than Chitaochi, with peanut in broadcast plantings or with wider plant spacings yielding less than planting in rows and establishing plants at closer spacings. The interaction of variety and digging date was significant. Yield was greater for Sarinut 2 than Chitaochi when dug at optimum maturity and for most other digging dates. However, digging at optimum maturity for Chitaochi and one week after optimum maturity for Sarinut 2 resulted in similar yields. In both the weed management and fungicide trials, Sarinut 2 yielded more than Chitaochi. Increasing the number of fungicide sprays increased yield with each successive addition of a spray. Hand weeding twice and hand weeding once after a postemergence spray results in the highest yields. Herbicide applied only at preemergence timing was the least effective approach other than the no-weed control. Including one hand weeding or preemergence herbicide followed by a single hand weeding resulting in similar yields.