Response of Bread Wheat to Sowing Methods and Weed Control Treatments

Abstract

Two field experiments were carried out at the farm of Fac. Agric. Minia University during 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 seasons to study the effect of sowing methods, weed control treatments and their interaction on associated weeds, growth, yield and its components of bread wheat, Misr-2 cultivar. A splitplot arrangement in RCBD design with 3 replicates was used in which main plots assigned to sowing methods and sub-plots allocated to weed control treatments. The results revealed that weeds and plant growth traits were not significantly affected by sowing methods in both seasons except plant dry weight which was responded significantly. Sowing in furrows recorded the highest plant dry weight in both seasons. Weed control treatments possessed significant effect on weeds and growth traits in both seasons. Atlantis herbicide application recorded the lowest dry weight of total annual weeds at 75 and 105 DAS (days after sowing). Hand weeding, hoeing and pallas gave relatively higher flag leaf area and plant dry weight in both seasons. Most interactions between the two factor were not significant. All yield components traits in both seasons were significantly affected by sowing methods except tillers/ plant in the first season and grains number / spike in both seasons, while weed control treatment had significant effect on all yield components in both seasons. Terraces sowing method was superior method for obtaining the highest values for yield components traits in both seasons, while the best weed control treatment for giving the greatest yield components traits in most cases was the application of pallas herbicide in both seasons. Grain and straw yields were significantly affected by sowing methods and weed control treatments in both seasons except straw yield for weed control El Karamity et al., 2020 -11 -treatments in the first season. The highest grain yield in both seasons and straw yield in the second season were achieved by sowing on terraces, while the greatest grain yield was recorded for the application of atlantis herbicide in both seasons.