In The Name of The Most High

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In The Name of The Most High
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Ecologically-based weed management through
intercropping Majid Aghaalikahni Agronomy
Department Tarbiat Modares University
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Outline for the main project

• BARLEY / RAPESEED
• BARLEY / GRASSPEA
• BARLEY / CHICKPEA
• SWEET CORN / MUNGBEAN

Title of current presentation Barley/chickpea
intercropping as an environmentally- sound tool
for weed management in small scale dry land farms
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I. Conventional management Agricultural
production systems in many parts of the world
have shifted from relatively small-scale
polycultures to large-scale continuous
monocultures.
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I. Conventional management This shift in
agriculture has been driven by advances in
breeding and chemical technologies that occurred
after World War II.
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I. Conventional management These technologies
have allowed growers to manage weeds and crop
fertility chemically rather than mechanically
(i.e. not reliant on hand pulling and hoeing)
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I. Conventional management Now, with the
appropriate fertilizers and pesticides and
equipment growers can plant the same crop over a
large area, year after year
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But we have to know Herbicides are the main
(sometimes only) method of weed management in
these systems. In this way, herbicide
applications can be thought of as large hammers.


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Potential problems of the conventional management

• 1. Cropping-systems have been greatly simplified
  (i.e. lower diversity).
• 2. Continuous cropping presents weeds with a
  predictable environment weeds with biology
  similar to crop are particularly difficult to
  control
• 3. Large hammers evidently dont work we
  still have weed problems!
• 4. Large hammers select for resistance
• 5. As more weed species develop resistance, new
  herbicides must be developed.weeds will
  eventually develop resistance to these too!
• 6. Synthetic pesticides and fertilizers can have
  unintended environmental effects

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This last point, in particular, has driven much
of the current desire/pressure to develop more
ecologically-based weed and crop management
strategies
Food web
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What is the Main strategy in Ecologically-based
weed management ?

• increasing cropping-system diversity
• Why?......
• Because greater cropping-system diversity may
  increase the potential for ecological
  interactions to regulate pest populations,
  potentially decreasing the need for intensive
  chemical use.

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How might one increase cropping-system
diversity?

• COVER CROPS
• CROP ROTATION
• INTER-CROPPING
• FIELD MARGINS/ HEDGE ROWS
• WEEDY STRIPS
• LAND-SCAPE LEVEL DIVERSITY

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Research hypothesis

• A major concern for farmers growing grain legumes
  in low-input systems is their weak competitive
  ability toward weeds.
• Light, water and nutrient may be more completely
  absorbed and converted to crop biomass by
  INTERCROPPING.
• Barley and chickpea have different competitive
  ability for growth factors.
• They not compete for the same ecological niches.
• Interspecies competition is weaker than
  intraspecific competition for a given factor.
• Grain legumes / cereal INTERCROPPING may provide
  an ecological method utilizing competition and
  natural regulation mechanisms reduce the need for
  chemical fertilizer and to manage weeds with less
  use of herbicides.

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Methods and Materials
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Location KARAJAlborz Province(representing a
semi-arid climate)
agricultural research station of Tehran
University (Karaj campus)
Altitude 1321 m Latitude 35? 49? N
Longitude 51? 50? E Precipitation 243
mm Soil texture loam
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Soil chemical properties
??? ????? pH EC ds/m SAR Na meq/lit Ca meq/lit N P mg/kg K mg/kg O. M Mg meq/lit Fe mg/kg Zn mg/kg Mn mg/kg
0-30 7.8 0.6 75 1.13 2.25 0.62 8.9 183 1.17 3.2 6.5 1.2 8.5
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EXPERIMENTAL TREATMENTS factorial of chickpea
Barley mixing ratio as follow

• Chickpea

Barley
50, 75, and 100 percent of pure stand
50, 75, and 100 percent of pure stand
plus two control plots (pure stand of chickpea
and barley, 80 and 160 kg/ha respectively)
Treatments were arranged in a randomized complete
blocks design with 3 replications.
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BARLEY (Hordeum vulgare cv.Valfajr)
160 kg/ha
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CHICKPEA (Cicer arietinum cv.4322)
80 kg/ha
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Measured traits
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Weed biomass Weed species frequency Crops dry
matter in pure stand and intercropped treatment
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RESULTS and DISCUSSION
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Weed diversity in our experiment
Family Scientific name Commom name
Fumariaceae Fumaria asepala Fumitory
Convolvulaceae Convonvulus arvensis Field bind weed
Chenopodiaceae Chenopoduim album Common lamb. Squarters, Fathen
Polygonaceae Polygonum aviculare Prostrate knot weed
Brassicaceae Rapistrum rugosum Raphistre, Turnip weed
Asteraceae Acroptilon repens Russian knap weed
Papaveraceae Hypecum pendulum Hypecum
Brassicaceae Goldbachia laevigata Goldbachia
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Fumaria asepala(Fumariaceae)
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Convolvulus arvensis (Convolvulaceae)
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Chenopodium album (Chenopodiaceae)
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Polygonum avicular (Polygonaceae)
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Rapistrum rugosum (Brassicaceae)
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Acroptylon repens (Astearaceae)
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Goldbachia laevigata (Brassicaceae)
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RELATIVE FREQUENCY OF WEED

• 1. Chikpea monoculture has the highest weed
  density
• 2.It was was dominantly consisted of fumitory
• 3. Barley pure stand was kept weed free
• 4. All additive intercropped treatment reduced
  weed frequency significantly
• 5. All weed species were suppressed in intercrop
  treatments except fumitory which was alive up to
  flowering stage.

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WEED BIOMASS

• 1.The highest amount of weed biomass (620 kg/ha)
  were obtained in chickpea monoculture.
• 2. Green biomass of chickpea pure stand (220
  Kg/ha) suppressed by weed competition.
• 3. All experimental units including barley,
  significantly reduced weed biomass.
• 4. It could be attributed to high growth rate and
  better establishment of barley comparing to
  chickpea.
• 5. It could be concluded that barley has
  acceptable competition ability against weeds.

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Damavand peak, 5619 masl (Alborz chain of
mountains)Tehran- Iran

• Thank you
• for your attention

Efharisto poli
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Mean comparison of forage dry biomass for
barley/chickpea intercropping
Total dry matter (Kg/ha) Barley dry matter (Kg/ha) Chickpea dry matter (Kg/ha) Treatment
2981.06ab 2916.16ab 64.9bc C100B100
1757.4c 1693.1cd 64.26bc C100B75
1911.55c 1828.61cd 82.93b C100B50
220.1d 0.0c 220.1a C100
2151.12bc 2137.33bc 13.78d C75B100
2098.8bc 2077.5bc 21.36cd C75B75
1531.8c 1451.83d 79.95b C75B50
2567.7ab 2554.7ab 12.76d C50B100
2144.1bc 2136.9bc 7.183d C50B75
1726.6c 1693.9cd 33.23cd C50B50
3056.33a 3056.33a 0.0d B100