Intensive tillage farming can lead to weeds developing resistances against herbicides. Common methods are no longer effective and many chemicals are losing their acceptance in society.
German combine harvester header manufacturer, Zürn Harvesting and French farmer and technician Romain Bouillé have joined forces to develop an entirely new approach for mechanical weed control. The weed collector TOP CUT collect is an intelligent combination of two tasks: Cutting the weed tops above the crops and collecting this material which contains the weed seeds. Hygiene in the field is improved sustainably by reducing the weed seed bank in the soil.
“Different scientific studies show that up to 40 % of the weed seeds are shedding before harvest. It’s therefore very effective to cut off and collect the top of these weeds before harvest. By doing this, the cycle of weeds getting into the seed bank is interrupted” says Zürn Harvesting managing director Rolf Zürn about the perennial field trials in France.
When cutting the grass weeds in their generative growth, the remaining plants are drying and not getting any new shoots. This is beneficial for harvest with a combine in heavy weed patches. This new approach is also a great opportunity for organic farms to extend their mechanical weeding toolbox.
The TOP CUT collect is especially strong when fighting resistant grass weeds like black grass, apera, wild oat or ryegrass. The company believes that it can be a game changer in root crops which take some time to close the “canopy”.
Top collecting is novel way to harvest weed seeds
