Insecticides may help growers hoping to protect their crops from harmful insects, but they also may contribute to a larger amount of some weeds, according to a study led by researchers at Penn State.
The study — published in the journal PeerJ — compared using insecticides preventively at planting versus using an integrated pest management (IPM) approach, which calls for insecticides only when a known insect problem exists.
The team also investigated the effects of using cover crops — a crop used to cover and protect soil after harvesting the cash crop — when combined with these treatment plans.
The researchers found that by the third year, some fields that were treated with insecticides and didn’t have a cover crop ended up with slightly more weeds — especially marestail. However, planting a cover crop prevented this issue, even in fields that were treated with insecticides.
Read more at Penn State
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