From Spain to Argentina to advance weed emergence modelling

From August to September 2025, Dr M. Remedios Alarcón Víllora, researcher at IMIDRA (Spain), completed her secondment at the School of Agriculture, University of Buenos Aires (FAUBA) within the NeutraWeed project.

Her work focused on two key goals:

• determining the base temperature of Mediterranean weed species and assessing different emergence models using field-experiment data,

• contributing to the development of more accurate weed emergence modelling within NeutraWeed.

During her stay, Remedios collaborated with Prof. Diego Batlla and Lucas Royo to launch a series of germination experiments at the FAUBA Seed Lab. Using seeds collected at an experimental station in Spain as part of the CEREDIV project, she designed and carried out three trials to investigate base temperatures, germination curves and dormancy processes in several weed species, with particular attention to Gypsophila vaccaria. Across the experiments, she collected and analysed germination data, strengthening her expertise in determining weed emergence curves.

Beyond this, Remedios shared weed abundance data from a long-term tillage experiment in cereal-legume rotations, exploring its potential for modelling emergence patterns under Mediterranean climate conditions. She also evaluated ongoing emergence trials on Chenopodium album and Amaranthus blitoides, further reinforcing collaboration between IMIDRA, FAUBA and INIA-CSIC. Additionally, she attended Martín Vila-Aiub’s seminar at IFEVA on the evolution of herbicide resistance in agricultural weeds, gaining valuable insights into resistance dynamics in Argentina.

The secondment generated preliminary germination data for G. vaccaria, enabling the development of a first emergence model for this species. These findings will be presented at scientific events next year, with further results expected as the study continues. Remedios's work strengthens NeutraWeed’s international research network and provides essential insights to improve weed emergence models: an important step toward more adaptive and biodiversity-friendly cropping systems.

Stay tuned for upcoming outputs!