Abstract
A comparative survey of the weed species present in field plots and edges was performed in fields at Zavalla (Santa Fe) Argentina in the soybean central region of the country in order to determine changes in cover, frequency and diversity of the weed communities. Five to twelve soybean fields were surveyed in 2006, 2007, and 2009. Weed surveys were carried out in the soybean fallow in winter and after soybean planting in spring. In edges, species richness was higher than in field plots in spring-summer but diversity showed an erratic response. The weed community cover showed a shift in weed vegetation composition relative to the field plot. Our results indicate that the community in crop edges relative to field plots differs in structure and abundance and that many weed species are only present either in crop edges or in field plots.
Highlights
Agricultural practices have caused major changes in the composition and species richness of weed communities in the field [1,2]
Richness and diversity indexes in spring-summer were generally higher in edges relative to field plots and in winter the opposite trend was observed (Table 1)
The higher richness and diversity in spring-summer observed for edges relative to field plots concurs with other studies [8,19,20,29,30] which may be due to the absence of chemical control in edges as ocurred in another study [11]
Summary
Agricultural practices have caused major changes in the composition and species richness of weed communities in the field [1,2]. Arable weed species play an important role in supporting biological diversity in agroecosystems [3,4]. Weed species that thrive in the field edges and may colonize cropped plots include Avena sterilis and Galium aparine [5], Conyza canadensis [6] and Senecio vulgaris [7]. There is evidence that herbicide efficacy, increased crop competition and changes in cropping patterns have resulted in a gradual decline in weed abundance and diversity over recent decades [9,10,11]. The most used herbicide in arable crops in Argentina is glyphosate which provides application flexibility, lacks of rotational restrictions and controls a broad spectrum of weeds [14]. As a result of repeated use, species difficult to control with glyphosate have become more common in many countries [15,16,17] and in Argentina as well [18]
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