The influence of weeds on the growth and development of paulownia

Abstract

The use of paulownia for planting as a bioenergy crop on marginal lands does not always allow the use of herbicides for successful weed control. Such plantations can be placed in residential areas, near water bodies, etc. where the use of herbicides is restricted or completely prohibited. In order to reduce the negative anthropic pressure on the environment in the processes of growing bioenergy crops, field studies on the influence of weeds on the growth and development of paulownia were conducted. It was established that the decrease in height of paulownia plants in stands weeded throughout the growing season was 29% less than on the treatment where the plantings of the crop did not compete with weed plants. The maximum leaf area of one paulownia plant was 3.72 m2, which is 3.41 m2 greater than the control variant. Therefore, weed control in planting bioenergy crops is one of the main factors in obtaining high yields. The main task in the first year of paulownia vegetation is to control weeds, which negatively affect the growth and development of paulownia plantations.