Khan, M.J., Brodie, G., and Gupta, D. (2017) The effect of microwave soil treatment on rice production under field production. Transactions of the ASABE, 60 (2). pp. 517-525.

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Abstract

Interest in chemical-free weed management practices has increased to overcome herbicide resistance in sustainable crop production systems. In this study, we examined microwave (MW) irradiation as an alternative weed management strategy in a direct-seeded rice crop under field conditions. Pre-emergence MW irradiation (2.45 GHz, 600 W, 120 s) of the soil was assigned in a randomized complete block design with five replications. The projection of 560 J cm(-2) of MW energy into the soil gave a temperature gradient of 80 degrees C to 90 degrees C in the top 5 to 6 cm, which induced a 70% to 80% reduction in weed establishment through the soil seedbank compared to the untreated control. Therefore, a 34% increase in the grain yield of rice (9.0 t ha(-1)) was achieved compared to the non-MW scenario (6.7 t ha(-1)). Microwave-based weed control could be effective in managing herbicide-resistant weed biotypes in cropping systems.

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