Aim:

To assess the impact of reduction of herbicide use on crop yield, weed density and species composition in a diverse crop rotation, as well as the potential impact on greenhouse gas emissions.

Objective:

1. To carry out an environmental impact assessment and economic evaluation of reduction of the number of herbicide applications and mechanical weed control in different tillage psystems (mouldboard ploughing, minimum tillage, no-till)
2. To measure emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O), carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4)
3. To analyse the changes in the soil weed seed bank in different treatments
4. To develop a remote sensing method of weed cover determination (data acquisition and analysis) using UAV-acquired images

Institute of Agricultural Resources and Economics (AREI)

Latvian State Forest Research Institute "Silava"