Weed seed bank dynamics: Weed seed bank modulation through tillage and weed management

Abstract

A field trial was conducted with the aim of assessing weed seed bank status of soil under maize cultivation. It was worked out by sampling from soil corer at different depths ranging from 0-5, 5-10, 10-15, 15-20 and 20-25 cm. Weed seed bank was monitored with a cultivator, a rotavator, a mouldboard plough (MB) and a chisel plough in tilled plots under Atrazine 330 EC at 1.00 kg a.i. ha-1 at 20 DAS, hand weeding at 20 and 40 DAS and no weeding. Sixteen weed species were identified in soil samples, four species contributing about 72% of the total weed seed bank. Tillage system was more important determinant of weed seed density than the weed management practices. Movement pattern of weed seeds by all tillage treatments differ significantly over three weeding management practices at 0-5 cm soil core. Horse purslane (28%) and jungle rice (20%) were with high relative abundance. In both years, change in weed seed bank in upper 0-5 cm soil was significant as seeds germinating from this layer were either removed by hand or killed with chemical or left unchecked. Only chisel plough tapped the soil core below 20 cm and caused a small reduction in weed seed density. Mouldbold plough effectively buried weed seeds below 10 cm but not beyond 20 cm and hand hoeing reduced weed seed bank by killing weeds at seedling stage.