EFFICACY OF SOME WEED CONTROL TREATMENTS ON ANNUAL WEEDS AND GROWTH CHARACTER AND YIELD AND ITS COMPONENTS OF FLAX (LINUM USITATISSIMUML.)

Abstract

Two field experiments were conducted during two successive seasons of 2004/05 and 2005/06 at Sakha Agricultural Research Station, Egypt, to investigate the efficacy of some weed control treatments i.e. bentazon, bromoxynil, fluazifop-p-butyl and butralin, in addition to the hand weeding for controlling annual weeds and their effects on some growth characters, straw and seed yield of flax. Results indicated that bromoxynil, bentazon and butralin achieved good control for broad leaf weeds during the two seasons. These herbicides reduced broad leaf weeds by 81.3, 74.9 and 71.2%, respectively in 2004/05 season and by 76.2, 71.1 and 72.1%, respectively in 2005/06 season as compared to the weedy check. Fluazifop-p-butyl achieved the highest reduction of annual grassy weeds as it reduced grassy weeds by 71.8 and 70.9%, respectively in the two seasons as compared to weedy check. Hand weeding (twice) was not enough for reducing weed population, as it reduced annual weeds only by 62.6 and 59.6%. Therefore, it can be practiced only as a helping factor in weed control program. Results revealed that all studied herbicides significantly increased growth characters of flax i.e. plant height, dry weight/plant, technical length and fruit zone length during the growth stage and at harvest. Bromoxynil, bentazon, butralin and fluazifop-p-butyl herbicides Increased straw yield by 55.3, 51.6, 51.6 and 51.6% and; 71.1, 36.7, 49.2 and 35.2% and increased seed yield of flax by 35.2, 35.1, 13.5 and 13.5% and; 35.9, 33.3, 25.6 and 15.4% during both seasons, respectively as compared to the weedy check. Data also cleared that most herbicidal treatments slightly decreased chlorophyll(a) and (b) but did not adversely affect oil content of flax seeds.