Seasonal scouting of weeds in a sugarbeet field in Mashhad

Weed scouting is an important part of integrated weed management system. In order to evaluate weed emergence pattern and management efficiency on weed populations, a 2 ha sugarbeet field in Mashhad was selected and evaluated during 2002 growing season. Weeds were identified and counted at 441 points at the intersection of a 7m by 7m grid within 0.15 m2 quadrates. The evaluations were done 3 times [pre management (1) and post management (2)]. Geostatistical techniques (kriging) were used to analyze the spatial structure of weeds and dynamics of weed patches. 34 weed species were observed across the field. Wide ranges of weeds were observed during growing season including, winter annual (e. g. Sinapis arvensis and Fumaria officinalis), summer annual (e. g. Echinochloa crus-galli), biennial (Dacus caraota) and perennal (e. g. Convolvulus arvensis). Solanum nigrum, Chenopodium album, Amaranthus spp., Convolvulus arvensis, Polygonum aviculare and Echinochloa crus-galli were the common weeds over growing season. In early growing season, Solanum nigrum with 404.71 seedlings per m2 was present in all samples constituted 81.32% of weed community, but in 2nd and 3rd sampling time, Convolvulus arvensis was the dominant species with 33.29% and 29.26% of weed community. Relative density percentage of perennial and grassy weeds (generally C4 species) was increased over the season but the relative density percentage of broadleaf annual weeds was decreased. Main locations of weed emergence were persisted as elliptical patches east ward and west ward of field over the season. The results of this study indicated that scouting and understanding of weed emergence behavior could be used to design effective strategies of weed management.