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Brassica carinata has the potential to become an economical biofuel winter crop in the Southeast U.S. An IPM program is needed to provide management recommendations for B. carinata in the region. This study serves as the first steps in the developing IPM tactics documenting pest occurrence, pest position within the canopy, and the impact of defoliation on B. carinata yield. The study was performed in Jay, FL, during the 2017–2018 and 2018–2019 winter/spring crop seasons. Pest species in B. carinata were documented by plant inspection within 16 genotypes of B. carinata, and the presence of insect pests in three canopy zones (upper, medium, and lower canopy) was documented. The defoliation impact on B. carinata was evaluated by artificial defoliation. Five levels of defoliation (2017–2018 crop season: 0%, 5%, 25%, 50%, and 100%; 2018–2019 crop season: 0%, 50%, 75%, 90%, and 100%) were artificially applied during vegetative, flowering, and pod formation stages of the commercial cultivar "Avanza64." During the 2018–2019 crop season, two experiments were performed, a one‐time defoliation event and continuous defoliation. The plants were hand harvested and the average number of pods per plants, seeds per pod, thousand seed weight, and yield were estimated and correlated with defoliation levels. Results indicated the following species of pests associated with B. carinata: Microtheca ochroloma Stål (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Plutela xylostella larvae, Pieris rapae L. (Lepidoptera: Pieridae), Diabrotica undecimpunctata Barber (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Lipaphis pseudobrassicae Davis (Hemiptera: Aphididae), Leptoglossus phyllopus L. (Hemiptera: Coreidae), and Chloridea virescens F. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). The insect distribution within the plant canopy was not uniform. Different levels of artificial B. carinata defoliation did not affect seed weight, the number of seeds per pod, or the oil content of the seeds. The number of pods per plants and estimated yield were negatively impacted by defoliation during the vegetative and flowering stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brassica carinata A. Braun is a non‐edible, oilseed winter crop for biofuel production that can diversify crop rotations and improve integrated weed management. The research objective was to evaluate the influence of B. carinata on weed population dynamics in the southeastern United States cropping systems. B. carinata was grown after cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), peanut (Arachis hypogea L.), or a clean summer fallow, and winter weed pressure was modified with or without S‐metolachlor. The emergence of Lamium amplexicaule L. increased at least 40% after cotton or peanut in 2018–2019 and 50% after cotton in 2019–2020 compared to summer fallow. Stellaria media (L.) Vill. emergence was increased over threefold after peanut or cotton in 2019–2020. Senna obtusifolia (L.) H.S. Irwin & Barneby emergence after cotton was increased at least 43% during both experimental years, whereas Amaranthus hybridus L. emergence was increased over 50% after peanut in 2019–2020 compared to summer fallow. Even without S‐metolachlor, B. carinata reduced A. hybridus (>27%) and S. obtusifolia (>25%) emergence compared to weedy winter fallow. After B. carinata harvest, A. hybridus emergence was reduced >40% with or without S‐metolachlor compared to winter fallow in 2018–2019. Overall, B. carinata biomass was highest after peanut for both seasons. B. carinata seed yield did not differ among crop history treatments in the first season, whereas in 2019–2020, the yield was higher after peanut (2417 kg ha−1) or fallow (2520 kg ha−1) compared to cotton (1710 kg ha−1). Weed management treatments were not different for B. carinata biomass or yield in any year. The results indicate that B. carinata can enhance integrated weed management strategies at the rotational level for summer crops by reducing seed banks of summer weed species, in addition to its potential as a winter biofuel crop for the southeastern United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]