TEAM SYSTÈME

Team Leader : Delphine MOREAU

The SYSTEME team (Integrated weed management with a systemic approach) is a multi-disciplinary team comprising agronomists, ecophysiologists and soil scientists and is directed by Delphine MOREAU. The objective is to analyse, understand and model the effects of cropping systems (and their location in landscapes) on weeds. The ultimate goal is the multi-criteria evaluation and multi-objective design of cropping systems for integrated weed management (ex. using little or no herbicides, controlling harmful species, preserving biodiversity, minimising environmental impacts, ensuring harvest quantity and quality...). Various biotic components interacting with weeds, biological processes (denitrification...) and flows resulting from cultural practices (pesticides, N, C,...) are also studied to develop indicators for cropping system evaluation. Our approach is based on four steps: (1) in situ monitoring of weeds as well as other components and processes (ex. monitoring weeds and pesticide flows in the long-term "cropping system" trial) in fields and survey networks, (2) experiments in controlled conditions and in fields to identify and quantify processes, to establish functional relationships between processes and species traits (ex. identifying root architecture traits to explain the susceptibility of crops and weeds to the parasitic weed Phelipanche ramosa), (3) developing models quantifying the effects of cropping systems, in interaction with pedoclimatic conditions, from the field to the landscape (ex. the FlorSys model predicting multi-specific weed dynamics as a function of crop succession and cultural techniques), (4) developing and applying methods for multi-criteria evaluation and multi-objective design of cropping systems, combining surveys, cropping system trials (Integrated Crop Protection network) and simulations.