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Assessment of composition and spatial dynamics of weed communities in agroecosystem under varying edaphic factors

Research Authors
Anum Yousaf1☯, Noreen Khalid1*, Muhammad Aqeel2☯, Zarrin Fatima Rizvi1, Haifa A. S. Alhaithloul3, Wajiha Sarfraz1, Khalid Al Mutairi4, Tasahil S. Albishi5, Saad Alamri6, Mohamed Hashem6,7, Ali NomanID 8*, Sameer H. Qari
Research Abstract

Weeds are important components of the agroecosystems due to their role as primary producers within the farming systems, yet they are considered as major constraints to crop production. A phytosociological study was conducted to assess the composition and spatial distribution of existing weed species under the influence of various edaphic factors in the 15 wheat fields. Quadrat method was applied and different phytosociological attributes including abundance, density, and frequency were estimated by randomly laying down 10 square-shaped quadrats of size 1m2 in each wheat field. A total of 34 weed species belonging to 17 families and 30 genera were explored from 150 quadrats. Fabaceae and Asteraceae were ubiquitous plant families. Various edaphic factors such as; soil texture, electrical conductivity, soil pH, total dissolved solids, nitrogen, calcium carbonate, organic matter, NaCl, calcium, phosphorous, potassium, sodium, and zinc were determined. Pearson’s correlation was employed to correlate weeds and the potential edaphic variables. The results depicted that most of these weed pairs’ associations correlated positively. Simultaneously, the abundant weed species including Trifolium repensCoronopus didymus, and Urtica dioica showed a positive correlation with most of the investigated ecological variables.

Research Date
Research Journal
Plos One
Research Publisher
Plos One
Research Vol
17 (5)
Research Website
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0266778
Research Year
2022
Research Pages
e0266778