1995 Annual Report for ANC95-028
Reducing Herbicide Use with Machine Vision Technology
Summary
This project is to take application technology that is currently used in vineyards and orchards and apply it on railroads and roadways where total weed control is required. The project will compare standard application technology with a machine vision sprayer that treats only live plants. The expected results will be a substantial reduction in the amount of herbicides needed for acceptable weed control.
The objectives of the project are to: 1) determine the effect of weed size and equipment speed on the sprayer sensitivity and accuracy; 2) compare a residual treatment combination with repeated nonresidual translocated treatments; 3) compare a nonresidual translocated herbicide with the biopesticide pelargonic acid; and 4) transfer the technology to the decision makers in the railroad and roadside industries.
Total weed control is desired in many facets of industrial vegetation management. Total weed control often implies residual weed control, i.e., one of the herbicides in the treatment combination has residual soil activity. A problem with soil persistence has been the development of plant resistance, i.e., the ability of a plant to withstand herbicide treatment developed through selection pressure.
Road shoulders, median barriers and railroad track ballast account for a major amount of the miles and acres of total weed control. Unfortunately, these miles of right-of-way adjoin agricultural crops. Resistant weeds on the right-of-way can and do spread onto the adjacent agricultural lands, becoming control problems because sulfonyl urea and imidazolinone herbicides are important on both sides of the fence.
An alternative treatment in some situations is the use of a translocated herbicide with no soil activity applied in a very directed fashion, such as glyphosate (Roundup Pro) applied with the Patchen WeedSeeker sprayer. The result could be a treatment that is applied to the specific weeds with sufficient savings in herbicide that retreating is a viable option.
In 1997 tests were conducted along roadside cement barrier in Indiana, railroad ballast in Indiana and railroad ballast in Kansas. Over these three sites, the Patchen WeedSeeker reduced the amount of herbicide use by 68 percent and reduced the weed populations by 56 percent over the growing season. These results were obtained with only a single application. It appears that a high degree of weed control is possible with the WeedSeeker and with reduced herbicide use. North Central Region SARE 1997 Annual Report.