Effect of New Pre-Emergence Herbicides on Quality and Yield of Potato and Its Associated Weeds

Mohamed A M Atia,Amira K Nasrallah,Emad A Abdeldaym,Hossam S El-Beltagi,Mohamed M El-Mogy,Farida F Kabil,Ibrahim S Abdallah

doi:10.3390/su13179796

Abstract

Potato is an economically important vegetable crop in Egypt. Weed infestation, especially broad-leafed, during the vegetative growth stage substantially affects both crop yield and tuber quality. In the current study, the impact of new ready-mix pre-emergent herbicides on broadleaf weeds, tuber yield, and quality was evaluated. The two-year field experiment comprised the following treatments: (1) Un-weeded control, (2) Hand hoeing, (3) Sencor, (4) Ecopart, (5) Zeus, (6) Kroki, and (7) Flomex. The results showed that weed control treatments significantly reduced the weed density compared to un-weeded control and the herbicides efficacy reached over 90%. The herbicidal treatments also significantly increased the activity of antioxidant enzymes peroxidases (POX) and catalase (CAT) and improved the non-enzymatic antioxidant (carotenoids) compared to un-weeded control. Conversely, the higher content of malondialdehyde (MDA) in potato leaves was obtained for un-weeded control. Moreover, weed control treatments caused significant enhancement in plant growth parameters, yield, and its components in addition to tuber quality of potato. Compared to the un-weeded control, maximum tuber yield was observed in Flomex followed by Ecopart, Kroki, Zeus, and Sencor, respectively. The higher number of tubers and total yield were recorded in plants treated with Flomex plus compared to all the other treatments. Higher content of total soluble sugar, total soluble protein, and total starch content was observed in weed control treatments compared with un-weeded control. Based on Pearson’s correlation and heatmap analysis, the changes in agro-physiological parameters data are linked to the herbicidal treatments. The results indicate that the applied herbicides could be alternative products for Sencor and an option for controlling broadleaved weeds. However, further studies are needed to ensure their efficacy and safety under other conditions.

Highlights

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is the world’s leading vegetable crop and is grown in79% of the world’s countries [1]
The lowest weedcaused control visible efficacyfoliar was obtained in the caseexcept of hoeing which contains as slight foliar phytotoxicity was observed.except
Development of the new pre-emergence pre-mixes herbicides enabled a larger spectrum of control leading to greater weed control efficiency and increasing tuber yields compared to hand hoeing

Summary

Introduction

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is the world’s leading vegetable crop and is grown in79% of the world’s countries [1]. Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is the world’s leading vegetable crop and is grown in. According to FAO statistics, the world production of potatoes reached 400 million tons, which were harvested from 19.25 million ha, in 2019 [2]. Potato is the fourth most important crop after rice, wheat, and maize in global production. Potato is susceptible to weed infestation that emerges earlier than the crop and leads to heavy losses in yield. If annual weeds are left uncontrolled, the tuber yield losses can reach up to 86.0%, depending on the severity of infestation [5]. Weeds interfere with harvest, causing more potatoes to be left in the field and increasing tuber injury. Controlling weeds, mostly broadleaves, is an essential element and major component of successful potato production. Mechanical and cultural weed control means are showed to be less effective and costly in addition to the current scarcity of hand labor [9]

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Conclusion