Ecological niche of weeds in spring cereals cultivars grown after winter oilseed rape

Abstract

The environmental conditions and ecological niches for weed survival and development in cereals crops are diversified. They are conditioned by biotic and abiotic factors of the environment and natural factors including quantitative rations between species of agrophytocenosis. The object of the studies carried out in 2009-2012 was to determine the weed species composition and infestation in crops of spring cereal species. Two cultivars were taken into consideration for each cereal species. The observations were done on the control (untreated) plots of a field experiment on evaluation of herbicide biological efficacy. The obtained results revealed that regardless of cereal species and cultivar, the weed species composition was similar, however the number of weeds and their biomass were different. The smaller weed biomass and their number were correlated with a higher competitiveness of cultivated cereal plants in relation to weeds. The rye cultivar Bojko showed the highest competitivenes, while the wheat cultivar Tybalt was the least competitive. The highest weed infestation was recorder for wheat in contrast to the lowest one in barley and rye crops. A proper selection of cereal species and cultivars with high competitive abilities should be taken into consideration by organic farms.

Is Diversified Crop Rotation an Effective Non-Chemical Strategy for Protecting Triticale Yield and Weed Diversity?

“…Such findings are not very surprising given the reports of other authors. Wesołowski et al [91] and Urban et al [92] showed that the H values of weed communities varied depending on the cereal species and cultivar, but the differences were small. In other studies, small differences between cereal cultivars were recorded in weed species richness [91,93].…”