Weed Control in Corn and Soybean Topics of Field Day

By Amit Jhala

The 2024 Nebraska Extension Weed Management Field Day featured research and demonstrations on weed management by the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture Jhala Lab team and from extension educator Jenny Rees at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s South Central Agricultural Laboratory near Clay Center on June 26.

Amit Jhala, professor of agronomy and horticulture and extension weed management specialist, organized and led the tour along with Rees, postdoctoral scientist Mandeep Singh, doctoral student Vipin Kumar and master's student Adam Leise. The Field Day was attended by 135 people, including growers, crop consultants, administrators, extension educators, graduate students, industry representatives and other clientele.

Team members demonstrated several projects focused on weed control in corn and soybean. These projects included studies on efficacy, crop safety, and comparisons of new herbicides and non-chemical methods, such as cover crops, as part of an integrated weed management approach.

Kumar and Rees demonstrated projects on the interaction between planting green and pre-emergence herbicides for controlling Palmer amaranth in soybean, as well as inter-seeding oat or barley in soybean for early-season weed suppression.

Singh presented a project on controlling volunteer corn in Enlist corn.

Leise demonstrated a project comparing herbicide programs for controlling herbicide-resistant weeds in corn.

Jhala discussed projects on the critical timing of cereal rye termination in corn, the use of sequential residual herbicide programs in soybean, and the comparison of herbicide programs with multiple modes of action for controlling herbicide-resistant weeds in soybean.

Others who contributed to the successful field day included Alex Chmielewski, research technologist II; Michael Schlick, research farm manager at the Eastern Nebraska Research and Extension Center; Sharon Hatchel, office associate; summer students and staff members of the South Central Ag Lab; and Connie Hanson, agronomy and horticulture events coordinator.