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PREDICTION OF GRAIN YIELD LOSSES IN WHEAT (TRITICUM AESTIVUM L.) UNDER DIFFERENT DENSITIES OF WILD OAT (AVENA FATUA L.)

UMM-E-KULSOOM AND MUHAMMAD AZIM KHAN^*

Department of Weed Science, The University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan

^*Corresponding author’s e-mail: azim@aup.edu.pk

Abstract: This research aims to determine the yield losses of wheat due to various densities of Avena fatua. For this purpose, field experiment was conducted during Fall, 2012 at Agriculture Research Farm, The University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan. Wheat seeds were planted at constant seed rate (125 kg ha^-1) and various densities of A. fatua (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 m^-2) were maintained in an additive design, and replicated 3 times. Pure stand of wheat was also included in the treatments for comparison. The data recorded showed that the total dry matter yield and grain yield of wheat were linearly decreased with the increasing density of A. fatua. It was noted that the highest density of the weed (40 m^-2) decreased grain yield of wheat by 76%. The grain yield reduction was in the range of 20-76%, depending on the weed density. The magnitude of yield reduction was weed density dependent. Similarly, the biological yield of wheat was also decreased with the increasing weed density. There was a close relationship between weed biomass and grain yield of wheat. Thus it is suggested that accurate estimates of crop yield losses due to weed interference are required for cost-effective weed management programs.

Keywords: Wheat, Wild oat, Avena fatua, Yield losses, Weed density, Threshold level