Assessments and Identification of Major Weed of Hot Pepper (<i>Capsicum annuum</i> L.) in West Shoa and East Wollega Zones, Ethiopia

Abstract

Hot pepper is the most important vegetable crop belonging to the family Solanaceae and grown as a spice crop in different parts of the world. Hot pepper is one of the important cash crops to Ethiopian smallholder farmers and an important agricultural commodity which contributes to export earnings. Peppers cultivation in the field are subject to biotic and abiotic factors effects that influence the yield. Weeds emerge fast and grow rapidly competing with the crop for growth resources viz., nutrients, moisture, sunlight and space during entire vegetative and early reproductive stages of hot pepper. there is a dire need of identification major hot pepper weed in the study area for develop management option and this activity was initiated to assess and identify distribution and status of major hot pepper weeds in the study area. The weed survey was conducted in West Shoa and East Wollega Zones of Oromia Reginal state during 2020 main cropping season. The weed Survey was conducted to assess Abundance, Dominance and Frequency of major Hot pepper weeds. Kebeles were randomly selected from each District and based on the representativeness of hot pepper production of the area. Weed survey was performed along two diagonals (“X” pattern) of a five points field of 1m x 1m (1 m²) quadrates. A total of 46 weed fields were surveyed from Hot Pepper farms of Ilu Galan, Bako Tibe, Sibu Sire and Boneya Boshe Districts. From study fields 15 weed family and 39 weed species were recorded and identified. The assessments result also showed that, Broad leaf weeds dominate over grass and sedge weed species. 76.92% broad leaf, 17.95% grass types, and 5.13% sedge types from a total of 39 weed species of hot pepper farm fields. The occurrence of each weed species ranged from 2.78 up to 97.22% while the dominance value ranged from 0.3% up to 28%. The most common and prevailing weed was Ageratum conyzoides L. and Guizotia scarab in hot pepper field. Hence when developing a weed management approach in the future, different weed controlling options must be planed next coming years, toward those major Weed families and species; especially broad leaf weed.