Semester

Fall

Date of Graduation

2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design

Department

Division of Forestry and Natural Resources

Committee Chair

Jamie Schuler

Committee Member

Rakesh Chandran

Committee Member

Shawn Grushecky

Abstract

A major setback for the establishment of short rotation coppice willow plantations is the control of competition from weeds. Weed competition has been found to cause increased mortality which lowers biomass yields when left uncontrolled. Mechanical weed control methods are the most used method of weed control, but their use can be complicated by cost, labor availability and site topography. Chemical weed control is also complicated by the fact that willow species are particularly sensitive to herbicides. Across three trials, we screen 11 herbicides for their potential to control weeds without significantly decreasing the vertical growth of willow trees. This study seeks to determine whether North American willow clones are resistant to previously studied and novel herbicides during the first growing season. Our findings suggest that 9 out of the 11 herbicides surveyed do not cause a significant decrease in vertical growth compared to mechanical weed control. Despite these initial findings, there are aspects of these trials that make it difficult to apply these observations broadly. Poor overall growth in trials 1 and 2, animal herbivory, varying herbicide damage, and drought conditions during trials 2 and 3, decrease the overall confidence in our results.

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