Cereal weeds variation in middle Egypt: Role of crop family in weed composition.

Abstract

Cereals occupies a major part in the diet of humans globally, participating more to our daily protein and calorie intake than any other crop. The present study highlight the weed flora of cereal crops compared to other crops in middle Egypt and their distribution. Ninety-two weed species were recorded in the all studied crops, cereal and other crops; in the studied area belong to 67 genera and 20 families. Egyptian clover; showed the highest numbers of both weed species and genera followed by wheat, on contrast the lowest weed species and genera numbers were recorded associated with Solanaceous crops tomato and pepper. Wheat crops exhibited the highest number of weed species, among cereals, followed by maize crop, while the lowest weed species number was detected in barley crop. Chenopodium murale, Cynodon dactylon, Convolvulus arvensis and Malva parviflora were the most frequent species in winter cereals, while Echinochloa colona, P. oleraceae were the most frequent weeds in summer cereals. Chorological analysis of the recorded weed species showed that cosmopolitan elements showed the highest numbers in total weed flora Differences in weed species compositions were fundamentally influenced by seasonal priority. Based on TWINSPAN and Ward classifications, crop family showed slightly effect as a factor affecting weed composition.