AgAgroscope Changins-Wädenswil Research Station ACW, Route de Duillier, P.O. Box 1012 CH-1260 Nyon 1

Yellow nutsedge: Actualities on Cyperus esculentus L. in Switzerland

Yellow nutsedge (Cyperus esculentus L.), a Cyperaceae species, propagates exclusively with tubers in the ground. Its abundance in Switzerland has largely increased in the last 20 years, due to changes of land use and important difficulties to control. The species is not well known to farmers yet, and tubers are increasingly displaced by vehicles, machines, root crops and with shoes. Infested fields are not mapped yet. Effective strategies to control the weed in the sense of reducing tuber production and therefore reducing contamination of neighboring fields are missing. Agroscope started recently a trial programme for development of control strategies. A legal obligation to announce foci and to control would help farmers, contractors and purchasers of crops to coordinate actions for preventing tuber production and displacement.

To the archive