Weed Population Assessment in Wheat at Central Highlands of Ethiopia

Shugute Addisu

doi:10.11648/j.ajaf.20190701.13

Abstract

Study was conducted on Weed Population Assessment in Wheat at Adea, Gimbichu, Minjar shenkora, Akaki, Boro and Lume Districts in Central Highlands of Ethiopia during, 2014/15 main cropping season to determine the distribution of weed species in wheat growing areas of central highlands of Ethiopia and to record the weed infestation level on wheat crop production. Depending on the area coverage of Wheat in each Districts seven to three kebeles, again in each kebele six to four from Wheat fields samples were taken using 0.5 x 0.5m quderate and GPS instrument. The frequency, abundance and dominance regarding different aspects of weeds were calculated. The result revealed that 45 weed species belonging to 33 families as weeds of wheat for each species was calculated. The 5 major families based on number of taxa were: Poaceae (14), Asteraceae (7), three species each under Polygonaceae and Solanaceae, and Papilionaceae (2), totally they contain 66% of the total weed flora. The most frequent, abundant and dominant weed species were found to be setaria pumila, Plantago lanceolata, Bromus pecpectinatus, Cyperus rotudus, Xanthium strumarium L. and Snowdenia polystachya. Greater than 60% similarity index of weed communities was registered across all locations sampled.

Highlights

Wheat is an important cereal crop and is gaining popularity all over the world and especially in Ethiopia
Weed management approaches used in Ethiopia are mostly dependent largely on herbicide application or manual weeding after critical period of weed competition and resources are wasted without any significant yield advantage
A total of 44 different weed taxa were recorded from Wheat fields of Gimbichu, Akaki, Ada, Lume, Bora and Minjar districts of which 44 were identified to the species level

Summary

Introduction

Wheat is an important cereal crop and is gaining popularity all over the world and especially in Ethiopia. Management of many factors can significantly contribute in increasing the grain yield of wheat in Ethiopia. Among these factors, weed management is an important factor and can increase the wheat yield by million ton in Ethiopia. Weeds are prominent yield reducers that are, in many situations, economically more important than insects, fungi or other pest organisms [9]. Weed management approaches used in Ethiopia are mostly dependent largely on herbicide application or manual weeding after critical period of weed competition and resources are wasted without any significant yield advantage. As crop-weed interference is inevitable a judicious use of herbicides and integration of cultural methods may prove more effective. Herbicides should be used in combination with good preventative, physical and cultural practices

Methods

Results

Conclusion