Members of the Operational Group: Laser Zentrum Hannover e. V.; Netzwerk Ackerbau Niedersachsen e. V.; Landwirtschaftskammer Niedersachsen, Pflanzenschutzamt; Friedel Könecke; Bernd Dröse

A few years ago mainly found in the river and coastal marshes of Lower Saxony, the herbicide resistance of the foxtail (Alopecurus myosuroides), but also of the common stalk (Apera spica-venti), spreads also on loess and clayey sites. The loss of herbicide efficacy is caused, among other things, by the one-sided application of chemical crop protection active ingredients from one group of active ingredients and by a lack of further development of new active ingredients. In combination with narrow cereal crop rotations and increasing ploughless tillage, this has massively promoted the development of resistance of grasses and weeds to numerous herbicides.

Besides agricultural measures such as extending crop rotations, postponing sowing times, and increasing the use of the plough again, the approach of this project is to put into practice an innovative control method for resistant grasses such as foxtail and tussock using mobile laser technology. Under the aspects of sustainability (e.g. conservative soil cultivation) and biodiversity/climate protection (no use of chemical pesticides), the use of laser technology offers a future-oriented alternative.

The aim of this project is to investigate the laser treatment in practice. For this purpose, a practical laser treatment device will be developed that effectively and sustainably combats both foxtail and windfall in order to reduce the use of herbicides or to be able to do without them completely. For this purpose, different control strategies for already occurring isolated resistances to groups of active ingredients are being investigated on an affected area. Based on the data obtained, the laser treatment is analyzed in practice and evaluated from an agricultural, technical and economic point of view.

Our institute is a project partner of the Operational Group "LURUU" of the EU funding measure EIP Agri (grant number 276032010001437).

The project is supported by the EAFRD fund. For information please visit www.eler.niedersachsen.de.