Weed vegetation of poppy (Papaver somniferum) fields in Hungary: effects of management and environmental factors on species composition

Abstract

Pinke G, Pál RW, Tóth K, Karácsony P, Czúcz B & Botta‐Dukát Z (2011). Weed vegetation of poppy (Papaver somniferum) fields in Hungary: effects of management and environmental factors on species composition. Weed Research51, 621–630. Summary Poppy (Papaver somniferum) is a sporadically cultivated crop species, with idiosyncratic life history traits, management systems and highly specific and under‐researched weed communities. This study aimed to assess the management and environmental factors determining the weed species composition of poppy fields over a relatively large area (Hungary in central‐eastern Europe), one of the focal regions of poppy production worldwide. The abundance of weed flora was measured in 102 poppy fields across Hungary, along with 41 management and environmental factors. The set of explanatory variables was reduced by stepwise backward selection to a minimal adequate model containing 15 terms, which explained 34.3% of the total variation in species data. The net effects of 10 variables on species composition were significant. Sowing season was found to be the most important explanatory variable, showing a clear distinction between the weed flora of autumn‐sown food poppy and spring‐sown alkaloid poppy fields. Other management factors, such as preceding crop, herbicides mesotrione and isoxaflutole, fertiliser N and row spacing, were also significant. Only four environmental variables (temperature, soil texture, soil Mg and Ca content) were significant, which can be attributed to the narrow ecological tolerance of poppy, resulting in short environmental gradients.

Relating Ambrosia artemisiifolia and other weeds to the management of Hungarian sunflower crops

“…The weed species that most strongly responded to Ca content were A. artemisiifolia and Convolvulus arvensis L. preferring high, while E. crus-galli and X. italicum preferring low concentrations (Table 3). A similar investigation in Hungarian poppy fields found these two soil elements to be some of the most important factors as well (Pinke et al 2011b), and Mg also seemed to influence the occurrence of some species in Italian (Otto et al 2007) and Danish (Andreasen and Skovgaard 2009) arable fields. The association of weed flora with soil Mg is likely to be driven by complex soil chemical interactions with plant functions.…”

Methods to conduct and analyse weed surveys in arable farming: a review

“…It shows a decreasing abundance and diversity of weeds from the beginning of wide applications of herbicides and levelling of site conditions until the 1980s but often increasing weed abundances during the last two decades due to herbicide reduction programmes, structural changes and a partial reversal of intensification (Andreasen et al 1996;Hyvönen et al 2003;Miloanova et al 2007;Kapeluszny and Haliniarz 2007;Novák et al 2009). However, this increase is rarely related to weed species of conservational value but usually involves higher proportions of problematic perennial and monocotyledonous species (Hyvönen et al 2003;Novák et al 2009;Potts et al 2010;Pinke et al 2011), higher abundances of generalist species that are common in all crops (Fried et al 2010), nitrophilous weeds and weeds adapted to dense vegetation stands (Lososová et al 2008;Šilc et al 2009;Májeková et al 2010).…”

“…Frequently, this could be overcome by installing plots with no herbicides, although this method restricts the survey site to small parts of the fields. Sampling after herbicide application is unproblematic in this regard and appropriate when the overall effect of farming systems reflecting the impact of all typical agronomic practices is to be examined (Leeson et al 1999;Pinke et al 2011Pinke et al , 2012. A time-consuming but informative alternative is to compare the weed flora in sprayed and unsprayed parts of the fields (Sutcliffe and Kay 2000) or before and after herbicide application (Saaverda et al 1990;Hidalgo et al 1990;Fried et al 2008).…”

“…They further serve to detect regional changes in weed species composition and to statistically confirm field observations and expert knowledge on species spreading due to changes in agricultural practice and/or climate (Andreasen and Stryhn 2008;Fried et al 2009;Lutman et al 2009). Finally, they can be used to derive predictions for potential weed shifts and expected weed problems (Mehrtens et al 2005;Firbank et al 1998;Pinke et al 2011;Peters et al 2014).…”

Ökológiai és agrotechnikai tényezők hatása a szántóföldi gyomtársulások faj- és jellegösszetételére = Effects of environmental and management factors on species and trait composition in arable weed communities

“…A hat agrotechnikai ténye-ző mellett mindössze négy abiotikus tényező befolyása bizonyult szignifi káns-nak: az évi átlaghőmérséklet, a talajszerkezet, valamint a talaj Mg és Ca tartalma. Ez az arány valószínűleg a komplex agrotechnikai eljárásoknak, valamint a mák viszonylag szűk ökológiai tűrőképességének következtében megnyilvánuló rövid környezeti gradiensnek volt tulajdonítható (Pinke et al 2011). A rizsvetések fajösszetétele szempontjából a kultúrnövény borítása lett a legfontosabb változó, mely után rangsor szerint az alábbi tényezők következtek: penoxsulam és azimszulfuron herbicid hatóanyagok, talajművelés mélysége, foszfor-és káli-umműtrágyák, az utolsó vetésváltás után eltelt évek száma, májusi vízmélység, vetéstípus, pendimetalin herbicid hatóanyag és a víz vezetőképessége.…”