Physical weed control in protected leaf-beetin central Italy

Leaf-beet is a typical and very important protected cultivation crop in central Italy. In leaf-beet protected cultivation, weedcontrol is one of the most important problems because of its fairly long crop cycle (approximately 4–5 months). The aim ofthis research was to set up an efficient non chemical weed control strategy performed with innovative machines built and setup by the University of Pisa. A two-year (2006–2007) ‘on-farm’ experimental trial was carried out in Crespina (PI). Aconventional weed management technique (consisting of one pre-transplanting chemical treatment) was compared with aninnovative physical weed control strategy in an organic production system (consisting of using a stale seedbed technique, inseveral post-emergence precision hoeing and in-row hand-weeding treatments). In the conventional technique, leaf-beet wasmanually transplanted, while it was sown with a precision pneumatic planter in the organic system. All innovative machinesfor physical weed control were adjusted and set up for the protected cultivation. Similar yields were recorded for the twosystems in this two-year trial. Total labor time (for weed management and crop planting) was appreciably lower in theconventional system in the first year of the experiment (- 67%), while in the second year, some improvement in the physicalweed control techniques decreased labor needs with respect to the conventional technique (- 40%). Weed dry biomass atharvest was significantly lower in the organic cropping system (on average - 50%).