Weed control is a crucial factor for maintaining establishment and herbage production in dwarf variety of late-heading type (DL) napiergrass (Pennisetum purpureum Schumach) in southern Kyushu, Japan. This study wa...Weed control is a crucial factor for maintaining establishment and herbage production in dwarf variety of late-heading type (DL) napiergrass (Pennisetum purpureum Schumach) in southern Kyushu, Japan. This study was aimed to verify the weeding-effect on dry matter (DM) production in the farm level and to examine the effect of several weed control, i.e. mixed sowing of annual setaria (abbreviated as S), which has no regrowth ability after stem-elongation, paper-mulching (as P) and hand-weeding (as +W), compared with no-weeding (as -W) on DM yield and quality of DL napiergrass in two years. Weed control practices significantly (P 〈 0.05) promoted several plant growth attributes in DL napiergrass, compared with no-weeding both in the farm and experimental levels. Paper-mulchidng (P-W or P+S-W) had highest yields among several practices in both years. Setaria-sowing ha a partially mitigating effect of weed damage on DM production of DL napiergrass, while additive DM gain from setaria could compensate the yield decrease in DL napiergrass and reduce herbicide cost. Neither digestibility nor crude protein was affected by any weed control in either year. Thus, paper-mulching and annual setaria-sowing could be effective alternative practices for weed control of this species.展开更多
Cymbopogon nardus is an invasive grass weed in the grazing lands of Uganda affecting growth of desirable species and impeding movement of livestock. Farmers have for long used manual removal with a hand hoe to control...Cymbopogon nardus is an invasive grass weed in the grazing lands of Uganda affecting growth of desirable species and impeding movement of livestock. Farmers have for long used manual removal with a hand hoe to control the weed to allow growth of palatable species. In order to reduce on the drudgery associated with the hand hoe, a trial was set up to evaluate removal with a hand hoe, use of fire and spraying the weed with glyphosate herbicide to control Cymbopogon nardus. Eight treatments associated with the different control strategies were replicated on four sites in the land use system. Both manual removal with a hand hoe and spraying with glyphosate herbicide were effective in controlling Cymbopogon nardus with 95% and 92% kill of Cymbopogon tussocks, respectively. The differences between the two control methods were not significant. Plant species biodiversity recovery was faster in the manually controlled plots than in those sprayed with glyphosate, but the number of species was not significantly different. The frequency of occurrence of species was however significantly different with manually controlled plots registering a higher frequency of the species. Fire had no effect as a control strategy, but instead increased the number of tussocks, growth vigour of the re-growth, flowering and hence seed setting. After three seasons, no significant difference was observed in species biodiversity between manual and herbicide control. These results suggest that herbicides could effectively be used to control Cymbopogon nardus to cut on costs and avoid the drudgery normally associated with manual control.展开更多
文摘Weed control is a crucial factor for maintaining establishment and herbage production in dwarf variety of late-heading type (DL) napiergrass (Pennisetum purpureum Schumach) in southern Kyushu, Japan. This study was aimed to verify the weeding-effect on dry matter (DM) production in the farm level and to examine the effect of several weed control, i.e. mixed sowing of annual setaria (abbreviated as S), which has no regrowth ability after stem-elongation, paper-mulching (as P) and hand-weeding (as +W), compared with no-weeding (as -W) on DM yield and quality of DL napiergrass in two years. Weed control practices significantly (P 〈 0.05) promoted several plant growth attributes in DL napiergrass, compared with no-weeding both in the farm and experimental levels. Paper-mulchidng (P-W or P+S-W) had highest yields among several practices in both years. Setaria-sowing ha a partially mitigating effect of weed damage on DM production of DL napiergrass, while additive DM gain from setaria could compensate the yield decrease in DL napiergrass and reduce herbicide cost. Neither digestibility nor crude protein was affected by any weed control in either year. Thus, paper-mulching and annual setaria-sowing could be effective alternative practices for weed control of this species.
文摘Cymbopogon nardus is an invasive grass weed in the grazing lands of Uganda affecting growth of desirable species and impeding movement of livestock. Farmers have for long used manual removal with a hand hoe to control the weed to allow growth of palatable species. In order to reduce on the drudgery associated with the hand hoe, a trial was set up to evaluate removal with a hand hoe, use of fire and spraying the weed with glyphosate herbicide to control Cymbopogon nardus. Eight treatments associated with the different control strategies were replicated on four sites in the land use system. Both manual removal with a hand hoe and spraying with glyphosate herbicide were effective in controlling Cymbopogon nardus with 95% and 92% kill of Cymbopogon tussocks, respectively. The differences between the two control methods were not significant. Plant species biodiversity recovery was faster in the manually controlled plots than in those sprayed with glyphosate, but the number of species was not significantly different. The frequency of occurrence of species was however significantly different with manually controlled plots registering a higher frequency of the species. Fire had no effect as a control strategy, but instead increased the number of tussocks, growth vigour of the re-growth, flowering and hence seed setting. After three seasons, no significant difference was observed in species biodiversity between manual and herbicide control. These results suggest that herbicides could effectively be used to control Cymbopogon nardus to cut on costs and avoid the drudgery normally associated with manual control.