B. Sarapatka et al., THE EFFECT OF FARMYARD MANURE ANAEROBIC TREATMENT ON WEED SEED VIABILITY, Biological agriculture & horticulture, 10(1), 1993, pp. 1-8
Weed encroachment is a serious problem of contemporary agriculture. Fa
rmyard manure and other organic fertilizers can be major sources of we
ed seeds that get into the soil. One of the methods for eliminating we
ed seed germination is the technology of anaerobic treatment of the fa
rmyard manure with a simultaneous production of biogas, the so called
''Olomouc method''. Before anaerobic fermentation seeds of all 11 spec
ies under study (i.e. Tripleurospermum maritimum, Echinochloa crus-gal
li, Plantago major, Chenopodium album, Chenopodium strictum, Thaspi ar
vense, Avena fatua, Rumex obtusifolius, Amaranthus retroflexus, Agropy
ron repens and Polygonum lapathifolium) manifested a high germination
power. The seeds positioned in the lower layers of the fermentation un
it (1,800 mm) lost their germination power after one month's treatment
. In the sub-surface layers (400 mm) of the farmyard manure there was
only a small proportion of viable seeds belonging to 4 species. The ge
rmination rate of Echinochloa crus-galli, Chenopodium album, Rumex obt
usifolius and Amaranthus retroflexus was 36%, 9%, 19% and 4%, respecti
vely.