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Effective Weed Control Strategy in Tomato Kitchen Gardens – Herbicides, Mulching or Manual Weeding


Affiliations
1 Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) Central and West Asia, Data Ganj Bakhsh Road, Satellite Town, Rawalpindi 46300, Pakistan
2 COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Park Road, Tarlai Kalan, Islamabad 45550, Pakistan
 

Effect of weed control on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) crop has been rarely explored in kitchen gardens for improving fruit yield and quality. Therefore, we studied the impact of manual weeding, herbicide application and mulching (using polyethylene sheet) on tomato crop improvement in kitchen gardens. The data show significant differences among different treatments in terms of weed density/m2, weed fresh biomass and dry biomass and quality of tomato plants in terms of plant height, fruit-bearing (fruits/plant) and yield (tonne/ha). Highest weed density/m2 (3.5 ± 0.84) was observed in plots with herbicide treatment and it was similar to that in control. Weed fresh biomass was significantly reduced in all treatments. Manual weeding resulted in the highest number of fruits/plant (33.75 ± 1.67), plant height (60 ± 1.01 cm) and yield of tomato (4.45 ± 0.18 tonne/ha). Therefore, manual control proved to be the most effective treatment in terms of weed suppression and yield enhancement of tomato crop. It was also observed that in crop production mulching must be encouraged in the future weed management strategies.

Keywords

Herbicide, Kitchen Gardens, Tomato, Mulching, Weed Control.
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  • Effective Weed Control Strategy in Tomato Kitchen Gardens – Herbicides, Mulching or Manual Weeding

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Authors

Daud Ahmad Awan
Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) Central and West Asia, Data Ganj Bakhsh Road, Satellite Town, Rawalpindi 46300, Pakistan
Faheem Ahmad
COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Park Road, Tarlai Kalan, Islamabad 45550, Pakistan
Sharmin Ashraf
Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) Central and West Asia, Data Ganj Bakhsh Road, Satellite Town, Rawalpindi 46300, Pakistan

Abstract


Effect of weed control on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) crop has been rarely explored in kitchen gardens for improving fruit yield and quality. Therefore, we studied the impact of manual weeding, herbicide application and mulching (using polyethylene sheet) on tomato crop improvement in kitchen gardens. The data show significant differences among different treatments in terms of weed density/m2, weed fresh biomass and dry biomass and quality of tomato plants in terms of plant height, fruit-bearing (fruits/plant) and yield (tonne/ha). Highest weed density/m2 (3.5 ± 0.84) was observed in plots with herbicide treatment and it was similar to that in control. Weed fresh biomass was significantly reduced in all treatments. Manual weeding resulted in the highest number of fruits/plant (33.75 ± 1.67), plant height (60 ± 1.01 cm) and yield of tomato (4.45 ± 0.18 tonne/ha). Therefore, manual control proved to be the most effective treatment in terms of weed suppression and yield enhancement of tomato crop. It was also observed that in crop production mulching must be encouraged in the future weed management strategies.

Keywords


Herbicide, Kitchen Gardens, Tomato, Mulching, Weed Control.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv114%2Fi06%2F1325-1329