Integrated management of feral rye in winter wheat

Abstract

Feral rye (Secale cereale L.), also known as volunteer or cereal rye, is a troublesome weed in winter wheat production systems in the low and intermediate rainfall zones of eastern Washington and Oregon and southern Idaho. Rye has been grown in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) for seed and as a cover crop, as well as for forage in hay production systems, pastures, and range. It has also been used in wildlife and soil conservation seed mixtures. Regional weed scientists think our current feral rye management problems in winter wheat originated when rye plants used for these other purposes escaped into cultivated fields. Since then, feral rye plants with the most “weedy” characteristics (for example, early seed shatter and long seed dormancy) have thrived in the winter wheat–fallow rotations of the region.