Viability of weed seeds in manure and silage

Abstract

Where manures are spread out on the fields, this problem is extremely important, but where manures are hauled out into the pastures or some pot hole and there burned or left, never to be utilized, weed seeds in manure are of no concern. However, the majority of the farmers do spread the barnyard manures, either fresh or rotted. This is particularly true in the more densely populated regions where manure is appreciated for its fertilizing value, and is therefore used to greatest advantage. Here in the West, especially in the Great Plains region, where the soil does not yet respond very greatly to the application of manure, many farmers do not bother with spreading manure on the fields. Many do not do so for the simple reason that manuring pollutes the land with weed seeds. This is true especially of fresh manure. If the results obtained in the working out of this problem are going to assure the farmers that if they follow a certain procedure in the methods of storing manures, after a certain length of time they can spread the same on the fields without the least bit of danger of spreading viable weed seeds, the experiments carried out will have been fully justified.