Assessing the biodiversity of weed species in Pomegranate agro-systems of Mahriz, Taft and Yazd regions

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• Tayebeh Zarezadeh Mehrizi ¹
• Alireza Koocheki ¹
• Mehdi Nassiri mahalati ¹
• Eskandar Zand ²

¹ Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

² Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection

10.22067/jag.v1i1.52928

Abstract

Weed diversity and population are influenced by several biotic and abiotic factors. To understand the diversity of weed species in pomegranate ecosystems and also the impact of agricultural activities on diversity of weed species, a two years study was carried out 2013 and 2014 at three regions of Yazd,Taft and Mehriz with different temperature and annual precipitation. In each region, two low-input and high-input management systems were studied. The amount of agricultural inputs was the most important criteria for distinguishing each of management systems. Therefore, low input and high input ecosystems in each region were selected based on the lowest and highest dosage of use inputs. For each of the management systems, 10 ecosystems (gardens) were selected, representing the replications for the study. The weeds species of ecosystems were sampled at two stages every year. The first stage was from mid-May and the second was from mid-August. Data (weed species and their frequency) were obtained from five quadrates (1×1m) in each garden. Data analysis was carried out using a general linear model. In this study, 58 species from 18 families were identified. Gramineae and Asteraceae Families with 12 and 15, respectively, were the most diverse monocots and dicotyledonous groups. In addition, Convolvulus arvensis, Hordeum spp., Chenopodium album and Cynodon dactylon were the most frequent species. Several factors, such as management techniques, regional and seasonal changes, spring rainfall and irrigation system were the most important factors affecting weed abundance and diversity. The amount of diversity indecies such as alpha, beta and gamma and also Shannon, Simpson and evenness indecies were larger in high input systems than low input ones. This result might be due to the consumption of fresh manure, livestock grazing and more light received by the canopy in high-input systems.

Keywords

• Diversity
• High input
• Low input
• management
• Weed

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