Weed Seed Oil Being Used To Control Other Weeds

Weed Seed Oil Being Used To Control Other Weeds CROPS Miscellaneous Pennycress is an annual weed that’s sometimes grown as a cover crop The oil from its seeds has shown potential for use as an herbicide or even an insecticide What’s more it’s also a potential biofuel source and can grow in and remove high levels of sodium in the soil “We extract the oil and apply it to various broadleaf and grass weed species in the greenhouse ” says Steve Reaume manager Research Operations Lambton College “It worked best on crabgrass and lambsquarter Applied pre emerge it reduced germination about 80 percent compared to control plots ” Reaume says pennycress oil breaks down quickly and leaves no toxins in the soil “Pennycress for seed production is 60 to 65 days from planting to harvest ” says Reaume “However it only has to grow for a month as a cover crop to reduce sodium levels by 10 to 20 percent Then it can be harvested for animal feed or treated like any other biomass The leaves and stems will have a higher sodium level but still less than marine biomass does ” The challenge according to Reaume is getting the seed to germinate The seed needs abrasion or freezing to open up the protective coating to absorb water If not frozen at some point it still has to go through a frost cycle However once it germinates it can grow under almost any conditions Reaume is an advisor to an Ontario group planning a pennycress crushing facility John Poel is a soil and crop consultant and one of the farmers experimenting with the crop It was his seed that Reaume crushed for his experiments “We seeded some in the fall but it didn’t grow until spring ” says Poel “We weren’t able to harvest it before planting dry beans so we worked it in The dry beans did really well ” Poel has planted a few acres in the spring and harvested in early fall “It is beautiful stuff to harvest very light and fluffy ” he says Poel sees the potential for a winter oil seed/cover crop “We want to keep living root systems growing in the soil and it would be great to make use of combines in the spring as well as in the fall It would also use leftover nitrogen when seeded down following corn ” A variety of groups around the U S and Canada are working with the oil seed plant The University of Minnesota has several varieties in development but not yet ready for release Western Illinois University established the Pennycress Resource Network and works closely with St Louis based CoverCress Inc It has modified native pennycress to develop an improved version CoverCress’ claims include oil and high protein feed that fit markets similar to canola They are promoting it as a cover crop that can be planted at corn harvest and harvested in time for full season soybean planting Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Pennycress Resource Network ph 309 298-1251; WB-Phippen@wiu edu; www wiu edu/pennycress/index php ; or CoverCress Inc 1100 Corporate Square Dr Suite 135 St Louis Mo 63132 ph 314 378-7556; info@covercress com; www covercress com

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