Interference and economic damage level of volunteer corn plants in soybeans

Abstract

Volunteer corn plants have infested crops sown in succession, causing yield losses. The objective of this study was to evaluate the competitive ability and economic damage level (EDL) of soybean cultivars infested by volunteer corn plants. The experiment was conducted in a randomized block design with one replication. The treatments consisted of six soya cultivars and 12 densities of volunteer corn, hybrid Syngenta 488 Vip 3, established for each cultivar, with a minimum of 0 and a maximum of 130 plants m^-2. At 30 days after emergence, the plant density, ground cover, leaf area and dry mass of the aerial part of the volunteer corn plants were quantified. In soybeans, grain yield, control cost, bag price and control efficiency were determined. Dry mass was the variable that best fitted the rectangular hyperbola model. The soybean cultivars Nidera 5909 RG, Syngenta 13561 IPRO and Brasmax Lança IPRO showed greater competitive ability and EDL values of 0.07 to 0.20 plants m^-2 in the presence of volunteer corn. The lowest EDL values ranged from 0.02 to 0.12 plants m^-2 for the cultivars Dom Mario 5958 RSF IPRO, Nidera 6909 IPRO and Brasmax Lança IPRO, which were the least competitive.