Impact of electrocution on weed control and tall fescue seedhead production in pasture
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Electrocution has been shown to provide effective weed control in soybean and sugar beet production. Despite its efficacy, little research has been conducted to evaluate the potential for electrocution to control common weeds in pastures. Electrocution could also potentially be utilized as a management tool to minimize the production of tall fescue seedheads. Animals that graze tall fescue seedheads that are infected with an endophyte have the potential to develop fescue toxicosis, which can cause clinical diseases. Separate experiments were conducted in Missouri in 2023 and 2024 to: 1) evaluate the effectiveness of electrocution on tall fescue seedhead management, and 2) evaluate forage injury and weed control following electrocution in comparison to common pre-packaged pasture herbicide combinations in mixed tall fescue legume pastures. In the first experiment, electrocution was conducted using the Weed Zapper between April 19 and May 4 on actively growing tall fescue plants. Metsulfuron-containing herbicides commonly utilized for tall fescue seedhead reduction were applied at the same time for comparison. Sequential electrocution passes spaced two-weeks apart was the only electrocution treatment that resulted in tall fescue seedhead density lower than the non-treated control. However, metsulfuron-containing herbicide treatments reduced tall fescue seedhead density by 70 to 77%. In the weed control experiments, electrocution was compared to herbicide application in six mixed tall fescue and legume pastures and two johnsongrass infested pastures in Missouri in 2023 and 2024. Almost all pre-packaged herbicide combinations eliminated white clover whereas electrocution and weed wiping had minimal effects on this species. The best electrocution treatments resulted in as good of common ragweed, ironweed, common cocklebur, johnsongrass, and tall goldenrod control as the best herbicide treatments. Blackberry, Sericea lespedeza and coralberry were most effectively controlled by weed wiping with glyphosate compared to all other treatments. Johnsongrass control was similar with all two-pass electrocution treatments, imazapic, sulfosulfuron at 0.525 kg/ha, and all weed wiping treatments, but two passes of the weed wiper at 5 km/h spaced 2 wks apart provided the highest and most consistent control. Results from these experiments indicate that electrocution can be used as a viable alternative to broadcast herbicide treatment for the control of several weeds that commonly occur in mixed tall fescue and legume pastures without significantly impacting forage yield or causing legume injury.
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M.S.