Determination of Critical Period of Weed Control in Onion Variety Ghermez Azarshahr

In order to determine the effect of weed interference duration on yield of onion (Allium cepa L.) variety of Ghermez Azarshahr an experiment was carried out based on randomized complete block design with two factors and three replications at Agricultural Research Farm of Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz in 2010. The first factor was consisted of the periods of weed infested at six levels including 0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 days after emergence of onion and the second factor consisted of the periods of weed free at six levels including 0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 days after emergence of onion. The results indicated that there were significant differences among weeds biomass of weed-infested periods. With increasing the duration of weed-infested period, the weeds biomass increased. Also the weeds biomass was decreased with increasing the weed-free period. Non-linear Gampertz and Logestic equations were used to determine critical weed-free period and critical timing for weed removal, respectively. Based on the logestic and Gampertz models and with considering 2.5, 5 and 10 percent acceptable loss, critical period for onion bulb yield was obtained between 2.1-87.1, 4.5-80.9 and 8.5-73.4 days after emergence and for onion biomass was obtained between 1-97.2, 2.2-90.8 and 4.9-81.8 days after emergence, respectively. By increasing the weed interference duration, onion bulb yield and biomass were decreased, while increasing the control period, resulted in an increase of them. Therefore, weed control in critical period is vital for preventing bulb yield and biomass loss of onion more than 2.5, 5 and 10 percent.