Naked barley beats-up black-grass

Public enemy number one for many arable farmers is black-grass.

Below is a photo of the rhizotron root chambers we've set up for Cereals 2014 next month.

Spring wheat and one of my spring naked barley lines were sown along with black-grass.

The barley on the left has far more competitive shoot-growth; longer, broader leaves that sprawl over the ground to cut out light to the weeds.  What I didn't expect was the difference in root growth.  The wheat on the right is being out-competed below ground, and most of the root mass in the upper soil layer is black-grass, allowing the weed to strangle the wheat.  

The barley roots are out-competing the black-grass; but what is also interesting is that the barley plants aren't competing as strongly with each other.  The crown roots grow at 45 degrees until they meet roots from their neighbour barley plant, then grow downwards.  They do not invade each other's space or grow under their neighbour.  On the other hand, they show no such respect to the black-grass, cutting across, undermining and generally out-muscling them.

Another good reason to grow a bit less wheat and a bit more (preferably naked) barley.