Non-Chemical Weed Management in Potato at Higher Elevations

Abstract

Abstract.A field experiment was carried out at the Agriculture Research Station, Chitral, Pakistan in 2014 to determine the effect of sowing orientation, planting spacing and mulching on yield and weeds of potato crop, using a three factorial RCB design. The sowing orientation (Factor A) had two levels viz., north-south and east-west sowing, plant spacing (Factor B) with three levels of 15, 25 and 35 cm, and mulching (Factor C) of Cannabis sativa L. biomass as mulch, Plantago lanceolata L. biomass as mulch along with a hand weeded treatment and a weedy control. The experiment results revealed a significant effect of sowing orientation, planting spacing, mulching and their interactions on the crop and weeds. The east-west sowing resulted in an increased weed density and biomass, whereas the north-south direction produced greater plant heights, greater number of leaves, tuber weight plant -1 and tuber yield. Plant spacing of 35 cm showed a significant increase in weed density and biomass, number of leaves and tubers plant -1 and tuber weight plant -1. Plant spacing of 15 cm resulted in increased plant height and tuber yield. On the other hand, lowest weed density and biomass, number of leaves and tubers plant -1 and tuber weight were noted at planting space of 15 cm. Among the treatments of factor C, weedy check gave highest weed density and biomass ha -1 and plant heights, while the number of leaves and tubers plant -1 , tuber weight plant -1 and yield ha -1 were the highest in hand weeding treatments. The weedy check showed lowest number of leaves and tubers plant -1 , tuber weight plant -1 and yield ha -1 . In conclusion, the N-S sowing orientation, planting spacing of 15 cm and the mulching of plant biomasses of C. sativa and P. lanceolata proved the best combination for an environment-friendly weed management in potato at the higher elevations.

Marketable Yield of Potato and Its Quantitative Parameters after Application of Herbicides and Biostimulants

“…Potato is propagated vegetatively, which exposes the crop plant to numerous harmful factors (weeds, pests, viral, fungal and bacterial diseases). As a result of reduced soil tillage and simplified harvest, delayed planting dates, natural manuring and continuous cropping, an increase in weed infestation of fields planted to potato has been observed [6][7][8].…”

Effect of hand weeding and chemical treatments on weed flora in Potato crop

“…It is subject to many pests' attacks. Weeds represent one of the major problems of this crop since they have always caused heavy yields loss and quality depreciation of the harvested tubers (Hussain et al, 2016;Mehring et al, 2016) [13,30] . Weeds may also harbor pests and act as carriers of diseases, and likely increase expenses of production for cultivators (Nwosisi et al, 2019) [21] .…”