PJB-2023-531
Salem Mesfir Al-Qahtani
Abstract
Effects of environmental variables can reflect on weed species diversity in crop and orchard farms. The objective of the current study is to understand the impact of soil chemical properties on the diversity, abundance, and distribution of weed species in six grape farms at Tayma, Tabuk region, Saudi Arabia. The soil chemical properties manifested significant differences (P < 0.05 or 0.01) among the various grape farms. The principal component analyses (PCA) showed that there were positive correlations among the investigated soil variables, with the exception of pH. A total of thirty weed species from thirteen different families were determined in grape farms. The number of weed species varied significantly (P < 0.05) among the investigated grape fields. Based on the abundance scale in the grape farms, Poaceae (50%) was the largest represented weed family, followed by Amaranthaceae and Leguminose (8.33% each). Also, Cynodon dactylon (100%) and Desmostachya bipinnata (66.7%) were the most prevalent weed species, followed by Setaria verticillata, Amaranthus viridis and Alhagi graecorum ((50% each). Most biodiversity indices recorded the highest values in Farm F, followed by Farms A and D, while the lowest values in Farm E. The PCA Biplot showed there are three groups according to the effects of soil variables on weed species in grape farms. Also, it revealed that some soil chemical properties were strongly correlated with most weed species. The similarities between the abundance and PCA analysis results show that the PCA was successful in classifying soil chemical properties with both low and common weed species in our study. Generally, this study concluded that the soil chemical properties affected the distribution and abundance of weeds in agroecosystems.
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