Weed community changes in saffron+chickpea intercropping under different irrigation management.

Autor: Mohammadkhani F; Department of Plant Production & Genetics, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran., Pouryousef M; Department of Plant Production & Genetics, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran., Yousefi AR; Department of Plant Production & Genetics, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran., Gonzalez-Andujar JL; Instituto de Agricultura Sostenible (CSIC), Córdoba, Spain.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2023 May 26; Vol. 18 (5), pp. e0286474. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 May 26 (Print Publication: 2023).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286474
Abstrakt: Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is among the world's most expensive crops; nevertheless, it struggles to compete with weeds. Non-chemical farming practices, such as intercropping and reduced irrigation, can help to decrease weed problems. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the changes in the weed density, biomass and weed diversity under saffron-chickpea intercropping system with two irrigation regimes. The study's treatments included two irrigation regimes, namely one-time irrigation and conventional irrigation (carried out four times from October through May), and six planting ratios of saffron and chickpea, namely saffron sole-crop (C1), chickpea sole-crop (C2) in eight rows, 1:1 (C3), 2:2 (C4), 2:1 (C5), and 3:1 (C6)] as main and sub-plots, respectively. The result showed that the conventional irrigation regimes increased weed diversity, however, it didn't affect the Pielou index. Intercropping ratios decreased weed diversity compared to saffron and chickpea mono-cropping systems. The interaction effect of treatments was significant for weed density and weed biomass. In most intercropping ratios, weed density and weed biomass decreased under one-time irrigation regimes. The lowest values for weed density and biomass were observed with an average of 15.5 plants/m2 and 37.51 g/m2, respectively, under the one-time irrigation regime with C4 intercropping systems. This intercropping system did not show a significant difference with C3. Overall, the results indicate that a one-time irrigation regime and intercropping with chickpea, specifically with a 1:1 saffron-chickpea ratio (C3) and a 2:2 saffron-chickpea ratio (C4), could be effective strategies for weed management in saffron in semiarid cropping systems.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Copyright: © 2023 Mohammadkhani et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
Externí odkaz:
Nepřihlášeným uživatelům se plný text nezobrazuje