Density and nitrogen effects on interference and economic threshold of common lambsquarters in wheat

Abstract

Common lambsquarters (CL) constitutes about 50 % of the total weed population in many wheat fields of the northern and central India. It causes considerable wheat yield losses. Its interference is highly influenced by nitrogen (N). Information on its density effect in response to N, and economic threshold (ET) will be useful for its effective management. This experiment was designed to evaluate and compare the interference of CL in response to N with that of natural weed infestations; and to determine its ET in wheat. It was observed that the natural weed infestation including CL, and a pure stand of 128 CL plants/m2 were more competitive, causing greater reductions in wheat growth and yield than other CL densities. In the absence of CL, the natural weed infestation was less competitive. The natural weed infestation including CL, and the pure stand densities of 128 and 64 CL/m2 inflicted more yield losses at 120 than 60 kg N/ha. But, at lower densities up to 32 CL/m2, increasing N levels favoured wheat more, resulting in greater crop-weed balance at 120 than at 60 kg N/ha. The ET, 6–7 CL/m2, would help in making decisions for CL management and fitting models. It can be approximated for other similar locations. This ET takes several production factors into account and would be more economical than what was determined based on only yield losses. The ET-based control would reduce future CL/weed populations by preventing seed bank build-up in soil, and rationalize herbicide use through tailoring of doses.