Using Physical, Cultural and Chemical Methods in Integrated Weed Management of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.)

In order to evaluate the effect of different integrated weed management treatments on tuber yield and yield components of potato, an experiment was conducted in Ardebil County in 2011. This study was arranged based on randomized complete block design with eight treatments and three replications. The different integrated weed management treatments were including paraquat in integration with hand weeding, vinegar application in integration with wheat straw mulch, straw mulch in integration with vinegar application, vinegar application, straw mulch in integration with paraquat and vinegar application, straw mulch application, hand weeding and weed infested treatment during entire growing season. Results showed that the different weed management treatments had significant effect on potato tuber number per unit area, mean tuber weight, tuber yield per unit area and weeds biomass. The highest tuber number per unit area was observed in paraquat -hand weeding treatment (56 No.m-2) that was not significantly different with straw mulch-paraquat-vinegar, straw mulch-vinegar and hand weeding treatments. The highest and lowest tuber yield was observed in straw mulch (2858 g.m-2) and vinegar (1800 g.m-2) treatments, respectively. The lowest weeds biomass was observed in paraquat -hand weeding treatment (11.32 g.m-2). Results indicated that the straw mulch-vinegar application treatment was the best integrated weed management in potato. Also with considering the environmental problems of herbicides, paraquat could be replaced with straw mulch in integration vinegar application.