Abstract
Competition between crops and weeds interfere on growth and development with harm to one or both, in different ways. To quantify these differences in competition, additive and replacement series study methods are most often used, each with different characteristics and goals. Therefore, we aimed with this work to study inter-specific competition between plants of soybean and corn against the weeds Bidens pilosa (beggartick) and Digitaria insularis (sourgrass), by two experimental methods of study: additive and replacement series (substitutive) experiments. Initial tests were performed prior to the installation of replacement series experiments to describe the intra-specific competition features for all species. For additive experiments these are unnecessary. To compare the methods of study, there were two sets of trials (an additive and a substitutive) installed under greenhouse, during the growing season 2013/14. Variables analyzed were leaf area and dry weight of shoots of crops and weeds, at 50 days after emergence. The results were analyzed according to the methods used, these being compared. It was found that the additive method supplied results most prone to be applied in the field, while the replacement series (substitutive) method was more appropriate for studies that aimed to provide detailed scientific information regarding the proportions of plants and coefficients describing the behavior of the species community.
Highlights
In the period between sowing and emergence, the future crop plant depends almost exclusively on resources stored in the seed
This study aims to evaluate the inter-specific competition between plants of soybean and corn competing with the weeds Bidens pilosa and Digitaria insularis by using and comparing two different study methods: additive and replacement series experiments
Crops were more competitive than weeds used to compare experimental methods, because weeds were not adapted to be as responsive to availability of environmental resources as crops
Summary
In the period between sowing and emergence, the future crop plant depends almost exclusively on resources stored in the seed. After the seedling emerges to the soil surface, the resources necessary for its growth and development are captured from the environment. When resources become scarce in the environment, the process of interference starts. Interference is defined as the effect of one plant on the environment occupied by its neighbors, being positive, negative or neutral, and arising when resources become limited, when one of the species produce allelopathic compounds, or when predation occurs. The types of interference, due to the proximity of two theoretical subjects, can be classified as [1]: neutralism, competition, mutualism, proto-cooperation, commensalism, amensalism, parasitism, predation and herbivory
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