EFFECT OF PERIOD OF SUGARCANE CULTIVATION ON THE ABUNDANCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF WEED SEEDS IN THE SOIL PROFILE1
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Date
2014-10
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Pakistan sugar journal
Abstract
The study was established on three sugarcane growing fields with known cropping history,
located in the southern Guinea savanna ecological zone (Latitude 90 29' N and Longitude 40
35' E) of Nigeria during the 2012/2013 and 2014 growing seasons to determine the relationship
between weed seedling emergence and soil properties. Soil seedbank was sampled from
sugarcane fields to a depth of 0-10cm, 11-20cm, 21-30cm and was estimated using the direct
seedling germination method, and the emerged weed seedlings were monitored over a
period of 8 months concurrently with a floristic survey conducted on same fields. Data
collected on weed seedling emergence were transformed and subjected to analysis of
variance, regression and correlation analyses. The results of the study demonstrated that soil
properties exert significant influence on the occurrence and distribution of specific weed
species in the sugarcane cultivated fields and there was a strong positive correlation (r=0.86,
p≤0.003) between seedling emergence in the seedbank and field emergence. Paspalum
scrobiculatum, dominant weed species, correlated positively with soil particle sizes and all the
chemical properties except Na, K and acidity. This implies that predictable estimate of the
sugarcane fields’ weed flora can be made from the soil seedbank and soil properties, with
such information; it would be possible to schedule a more appropriate weed management
strategy
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Keywords
Soil properties, seedbank, weed emergence, floristic survey, sugarcane