The economics of skipping a glyphosate application on Roundup ready sugarbeets.

摘要

The advancement that is Roundup Ready Technology is one of the most significant changes in the history of the sugar beet crop. In decades past, growers have applied a myriad of herbicides in order to bring a healthy crop of sugar beets through to harvest. Due to the success of the technology, nowadays it is much more uncommon to find an unhealthy sugar beet crop due to weed competition. Since its introduction however, an increasing number of cases have occurred where sugar beet producers have becomecomplacent, believing that fewer applications of glyphosate are necessary each season for a clean crop. In some instances, significant yield reduction has occurred as a result. By skipping or putting off necessary timely applications of the glyphosate, growers/producers are not maximizing yield and are allowing opportunities for resistant weeds to mature and reproduce. This trial began as a local educational tool for growers in the Treasure Valley of Idaho, but provides useful information for all sugarbeet growers who are attempting to weigh the costs of particular applications of glyphosate against any yield loss they may incur by skipping the application.