Abstract
On account of huge yield losses, weed infestation is a serious threat in wheat crops throughout the country. A comprehensive survey to find out the major weeds in wheat in Dera Ismail Khan was carried out during the crop season of 2012-13. Wheat fields at seed farms of Rakhmanghan, RakhZandani, Rata Kulachi and adjacent farmer’s fields to each seed farm were investigated. Data was collected at the peak growth stage of weeds and the quadratic method was used to record relative density (RD), relative frequency (RF), relative crowding coefficient (RCC) and importance value index (IVI). The results revealed that the major and most problematic weed of wheat at all the locations was Avena fatua (wild oat) on account of having maximum IVI at Rakh Manghan (78.51 & 77.44), Rata Kulachi (77.82 & 77.54) and Rakh Zandani (77.51 & 77.53) seed Farms and Farmer’s fields respectively. Rumex dentatus (dock) and Convolvulus arvensis (Lehli) were the second and third abundantly occurring weeds at almost all the seed farms and farmer fields on account of having the second and third highest IVI values at all the locations. Therefore Avena fatua (wildoat), Rumex dentatus (dock) and Convolvulus arvensis (lehli) seed were collected to find out the yield losses through further experimentation.
Highlights
Wheat is the most prominent, edible grain and major cereal crop (Arif et al, 2006)
The influx of weeds is a serious threat in wheat and if not properly controlled, might reduce yield by 25-30% (Khan et al, 2011).Weed management is of primary concern because weeds compete for soil fertility, use of available moisture, nutrients, space and sunlight with crop plants
A survey was conducted during the middle of crop season (February/March) in the years 2012-13 to practically view the infestation of various weeds in wheat crops at various locations of the District Dera Ismail Khan
Summary
Wheat is the most prominent, edible grain and major cereal crop (Arif et al, 2006). On account of more land areas, higher yield and utmost position in food and grain tradeoff, it is known as “King of Cereals”. Wheat production might reduce due to different factors like weed species, crop stand and environmental factors. Reduction due to weeds is of great importance because crop and weed competition always depends upon the density of weed species. Increased weed density linearly significantly reduces the wheat yield, whereas an increase in seed rate can suppress the weed biomass (Khan et al, 2009). The data obtained in this survey provide information, like weed composition, weed biomass, weed density and weed frequency, regarding the entire weed flora of wheat crops in the district. The survey was carried out to enlist the major wheat weeds on account of their importance value index in different locations of the Dera Ismail Khan (D.I.Khan)
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