Abstract
A field study was carried out in the period 2000-2006 at the Experimental Station in Tomaszkowo belonging to the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn. Its aim was to compare weed infestation of a mixture of spring barley and field pea grown in a four crop rotation with different crop selection and sequence. Each year during tillering of spring barley and before the harvest of the mixture, weed species composition and density were evaluated, while additionally weed biomass was also estimated before the harvest. These results were used to determine species constancy, Simpson&rsquo;s dominance index, the Shannon-Wiener diversity and evenness indices as well as the community similarity index based on floristic richness, numbers and biomass of particular weed species. The cropping frequency and the position of the mixture in the crop rotation did not differentiate the species composition and total biomass of weed communities in the cereal-legume mixture crops. The crop rotation in which the mixture constituted 50% and was grown after itself had a reducing effect on weed numbers. Growing field pea in the 4-year crop rotation promoted weed infestation of the mixture and the dominance of weed communities. <em>Capsella bursa-pastoris</em>, <em>Chenopodium album</em>, <em>Echinochloa crus-galli</em>, <em>Elymus repens</em>, <em>Polygonum convolvulus</em>, and <em>Sonchus arvensis </em>were constant components of the agrophytocenoses. The weed communities were more similar in terms of their floristic composition than in terms of weed density and air-dry weight of weeds.
Highlights
Crop rotation is a controlled crop succession system in agroecosystems
Weed infestation of the mixture of spring barley and field pea grown in crop rotations, differing in the proportion of the mixture (25 and 50%) and its position in the crop rotation
The present study showed that sowing the mixture after itself in the plot after 2-year cultivation of spring barley contributes to reduced weed density, while the presence of field pea, as a previous crop for the mixture, in the crop rotation promotes weed emergence
Summary
Crop rotation is a controlled crop succession system in agroecosystems. Crop selection and sequence affect the formation of new phytocenoses. Changes in the floristic composition of unwanted vegetation and their quantitative relationships relative to the crop rotation, taking into account other elements of agricultural practice, are a theme that is often found in scientific literature. Scientific research is usually focused on weed infestation of crops in pure stand, less frequently of interspecific mixtures. Cereal mixtures are more popular in cultivation than cereal-legume mixtures, though the latter ones are characterized by a higher value as a previous crop and a higher commercial value of yield, but at the same time agricultural practice used to grow these mixtures is more difficult (Rudnicki , 1999). Weeds can pose a problem, but weed infestation and its changes in mixed cereal-legume crops are poorly known. The effect of previous crops and cropping frequency in a crop rotation system is an important problem and this paper is devoted to this issue
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