Diversity, utility and communities of weed in wheat of Nowshera, Pakistan

Abstract

Weeds are disregarded for their competitive nature and difficulties during harvesting and threshing. Categorizing them by economic use classes enables effective management. Weed ecological studies in wheat crop fields were conducted to evaluate the floristic diversity, ecological characteristics, community structures and economic uses of weeds in District Nowshera, Pakistan. Different wheat crop fields were surveyed for the collection and identification of plant species growing as weed. Total 50 plant species from 47 genera and 20 families were recorded in the study area. Asteraceae had the highest number of species (10), followed by Poaceae (9). Therophytes were more with 42 species, followed by geophytes and Hemicryptophytes each with 3 species. Most species had mesophyllous leaf size (15), while nanophyllous (12) and microphyllous (11). Simple leaves were more common (28) than dissected leaves (22). Nonspiny species were (44) while only 6 had spines. Maximum plant species were fodder (35) and medicinal (10). In the study, four distinct weed communities were identified using quadrate method i.e. Cynodon-Anagallis-Melilotus, Arenaria-Anagallis-Cannabis, Cynodon-Parthenium-Coronopus and Rumex-Arenaria-Oxalis. These findings provide a valuable starting point for future in-depth investigations on the entire flora and vegetation of Nowshera, Pakistan.