Soil disinfection has been widely used for pest control in horticulture for decades. Recently, because of the increasing public concern about agrochemicals, many active ingredients for soil chemical fumigation have been banned by the European Union. Weed competition is a major problem in organic agriculture, because the use of herbicides is prohibited. Vegetable crops are generally the most sensitive from this point of view. A new machine for “band-steaming” has been developed. The aim is to use activated steam in order to deplete the weed seedbank in the row, in order to prevent hand-weeding. The first prototype of the machine has been already built. Specific trials have just begun and will be run in private organic farms, spread throughout the Italian territory, in different sown vegetable crops (i.e. carrot, fennel, chicory).
Use of steam and exothermic compounds for weed seed-bank control in bands (band steaming).
PERUZZI, ANDREA;FRASCONI, CHRISTIAN;MARTELLONI, LUISA;FONTANELLI, MARCO;RAFFAELLI, MICHELE
2012-01-01
Abstract
Soil disinfection has been widely used for pest control in horticulture for decades. Recently, because of the increasing public concern about agrochemicals, many active ingredients for soil chemical fumigation have been banned by the European Union. Weed competition is a major problem in organic agriculture, because the use of herbicides is prohibited. Vegetable crops are generally the most sensitive from this point of view. A new machine for “band-steaming” has been developed. The aim is to use activated steam in order to deplete the weed seedbank in the row, in order to prevent hand-weeding. The first prototype of the machine has been already built. Specific trials have just begun and will be run in private organic farms, spread throughout the Italian territory, in different sown vegetable crops (i.e. carrot, fennel, chicory).I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
