Modelling the effects of sub‐lethal doses of herbicide and nitrogen fertilizer on crop–weed competition

Summary The effects of sub‐lethal dose of herbicide and nitrogen fertilizer on crop–weed competition were investigated. Biomass increases of winter wheat and a model weed, Brassica napus, at no‐herbicide treatment with increasing nitrogen were successfully described by the inverse quadratic model and the linear model respectively. Increases in weed competitivity (β0) of the rectangular hyperbola and parameter B in the dose–response curve for weed biomass, with increasing nitrogen were also successfully described by the exponential model. New models were developed by incorporating inverse quadratic and exponential models into the combined rectangular hyperbola with the standard dose–response curve for winter wheat biomass yield and the combined standard dose—response model with the rectangular hyperbola for weed biomass, to describe the complex effects of herbicide and nitrogen on crop–weed competition. The models developed were used to predict crop yield and weed biomass and to estimate the herbicide doses required to restrict crop yield loss caused by weeds and weed biomass production to an acceptable level at a range of nitrogen levels. The model for crop yield was further modified to estimate the herbicide dose and nitrogen level to achieve a target crop biomass yield. For the target crop biomass yield of 1200 g m−2 with an infestation of 100 B. napus plants m−2, the model recommended various options for nitrogen and herbicide combinations: 140 and 2.9, 180 and 0.9 and 360 kg ha−1 and 1.7 g a.i. ha−1 of nitrogen and metsulfuron‐methyl respectively.