PJB-2018-611
RESILIENCE OF WEEDS INFESTATION THROUGH MAIZE CULTIVARS SELECTION AND SOWING TIMES ALTERATION UNDER CHANGING CLIMATE
Asim Muhammad
Abstract
Changing pattern of climate is causing direct effects on reducing crops production. Possible strategies to counteract the impact of climate change is to configure the sowing time of crops and to seek out crop cultivars that are adapted to extreme climatic conditions of a specific ecological zone and weeds infestation. Field experiment was conducted at three different locations (Agronomy Research Farm, The University Agriculture Peshawar, Agriculture Research Center Swat and Karak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), during summer season, 2017-2018. Experiment was laid-out in a RCB-Design with split plot arrangement having four replications. Sowing of different maize varieties (Azam, Jalal, CS-200 and CS-220) was done on different dates starting from May 25 to July 25 with twenty days interval. Data was recorded on weeds density, weeds fresh weight and weeds dry weight. Analysis of the data showed that weeds infestation was found increasing with respect to delay in sowing of maize. Increase in weeds infestation was found more prominent in maize OPV varieties as compare to maize Hybrids. Analysis showed that at Karak location, lower weeds density (112 weeds m-2), weeds fresh weight (21.69 g m-2) and weeds dry weight (9.09 g m-2) was recorded which was statistically similar with mean values of weeds parameters at Peshawar location as compare to Swat location. Similarly, early sowing of maize on 25th May resulted in lower mean values of these attributes as 109 weeds m-2, 20.61 g weeds fresh weight and 8.16 g weeds dry weight, respectively. Moreover, maize hybrid (CS-200 and CS-220) resulted in lower weeds density, weeds fresh weight and dry weight at all locations as compare to OPV varieties. Early sowing of maize (25th May to 5th July) and using maize hybrid (CS-200) is recommended for sowing at all locations of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Karak, Peshawar and Swat) for resilience and mitigating the harmful impact of weeds infestation on maize under changing climate scenario of Pakistan.
To Cite this article:
Download
