Jan. 4, 2009 Sinalbin, the same compound that gives white
mustard its pungent flavor, could also prove useful in fighting
weeds. Agricultural Research Service (ARS) studies suggest
sinalbin and other compounds released into soil by applications
of white mustard seed meals can kill or suppress certain weedy
grasses and annual broadleaf weeds. Agronomist Rick Boydston,
with the ARS Vegetable and Forage Crops Research Unit in
Prosser, Wash., is conducting the studies with plant
physiologist Steven Vaughn, at the ARS National Center for
Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, Ill. They evaluated
the effects of three mustard seed application rates: half a ton,
one ton and two tons per acre. Of the three, the one-ton and
two-ton rates worked best in peppermint, reducing barnyard
grass, green foxtail, common lambsquarters, henbit and redroot
pigweed populations by 90 percent several weeks after
application. Although young peppermint plants sustained minor
damage from the treatment early on, they recovered and r