Bioeconomic models are predicated upon the relationship between weed fecundity and crop yield loss in consecutive growing seasons, yet this phenomenon has received few empirical tests. Residual effects of wild proso millet (WPM) fecundity in sweet corn upon WPM seedling recruitment, weed management efficacy, and crop yield within a subsequent snap bean crop were investigated with field experiments in Urbana, IL, in 2005 and 2006. WPM fecundity in sweet corn showed strong positive associations with WPM seedbank density, seedling recruitment, and demographic transitions within snap bean. A negative exponential relationship between WPM initial seedling density and seedling survival of a single rotary hoe pass indicated that the rotary hoe was ineffective at low weed population densities, but its efficacy increased with increasing weed population density to a maximum of 75% seedling mortality. Efficacy of postemergent chemical control of WPM was unaffected by WPM population density. Path analysis models demonstrated dependence between WPM fecundity in sweet corn, WPM seedling recruitment in snap bean, and reductions in snap bean yield in subsequent growing season, mediated by negative impacts of WPM seedling establishment on snap bean stand. These results underscore the importance of expanding integrated weed management programs to include management of annual weed populations both at the end of their life cycle, by reducing fecundity and seed survival, and at the very beginning of their life cycle, by reducing seedling recruitment and establishment.

Nomenclature: Wild proso millet, Panicum miliaceum L; sweet corn, Zea mays L., ‘GH2547’, ‘Spirit’, ‘WHT2801’; snap bean, Phaseolus vulgaris L., ‘Caprise’ and ‘Charon’