Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T06:49:31.087Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Spent Coffee Grounds as Air-Propelled Abrasive Grit for Weed Control in Organic Production

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2017

Frank Forcella
Frank Forcella*
Affiliation:
Research Agronomist, North Central Soil Conservation Research Laboratory, US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, 803 Iowa Avenue, Morris, MN 56267
*
*Corresponding author’s E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Spent coffee grounds (SCG) represent a significant food waste residue. Value-added uses for this material would be beneficial. Gritty agricultural residues, such as corncob grit, can be employed as abrasive air-propelled agents for organically-compatible and selective shredding of weed seedlings within established crops. SCG were tested and compared with corncob grit for their ability to injure seedlings of two important weeds: waterhemp and velvetleaf. Waterhemp seedlings were controlled completely with as little as 0.5 g of SCG at an air pressure of 690 kPa. Velvetleaf seedlings were much larger than those of waterhemp at the time of grit application, better tolerated SCG abrasion, but still were damaged appreciably by 1 to 2 g of grit. SCG were at least as effective for abrading weed seedlings as corncob grit, whose value for this purpose in organic crops was demonstrated previously.

Keywords

Tall waterhemp, Amaranthus tuberculatus (Moq.) Sauervelvetleaf, Abutilon theophrasti Medik.Agricultural residuefood wastegrit blastingorganic farmingweed management
Type
Notes
Information
Weed Technology , Volume 31 , Issue 5 , October 2017 , pp. 769 - 772
Copyright
© Weed Science Society of America, 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Associate Editor for this paper: Robert Nurse, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

References

Literature Cited

Anonymous. (2013). Statistix 10. Tallahassee, Florida: Analytical Software. www.statistix.com Google Scholar
Erazo-Barradas, M, Friedrichsen, CN, Forcella, F, Humburg, D, Clay, SA (2017). Propelled abrasive grit applications for weed management in transitional corn grain production. Renew Agric Food Syst. doi: 20.1017/S174217051700031X Google Scholar
Lanoue, CM (2012). Design and Analysis of a New Abrasive Blasting System Utilized in a Novel Weed Control Method. MS thesis. Brookings, SD: South Dakota State University. 180 pGoogle Scholar
Silva, MA, Nebra, SA, Machado Silva, MJ, Sanchez, CG (1998) The use of biomass residues in the Brazilian soluable coffee industry. Biomass Bioenergy 14:457–467 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vardon, DR, Moser, BR, Zheng, W, Witkin, K, Evangelista, RL, Strathmann, TJ, Rajagopalan, K, Sharma, BK (2013) Complete utilization of spent coffee grounds to produce biodiesel, bio-oil, and biochar. Sustain Chem Eng 1:1286–1294 Google Scholar
Wortman, SE (2015) Air-propelled abrasive grits reduce weed abundance and increase yields in organic vegetable production. Crop Prot 77:157–162 Google Scholar