Field application of allelopathic bacteria to control invasion of little seed canary grass in wheat
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Field application of allelopathic bacteria to control invasion of little seed canary grass in wheat Tasawar Abbas 1
&
Zahir Ahmad Zahir 1 & Muhammad Naveed 1
Received: 21 May 2020 / Accepted: 21 October 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Development of successful biological weed control can help to resolve various environmental challenges created by the chemical and mechanical weed control. The current study is aimed at investigating the potential of allelopathic bacteria (hereinafter as AB) for biological weed control in wheat rather than the traditional areas of plant allelopathy, phyto-pathology, and insect biocontrol agents. Eleven strains of AB were obtained that were inhibitory to little seed canary grass of which 5 also inhibited wheat in our previous studies. The remaining strains indicated the potential for biological control of this weed in wheat. Five efficient strains were selected for this purpose to conduct pot and field trials. Seeds of little seed canary grass were sown together in potted soils with wheat seeds inoculated with AB strains. A subsequent field trial was conducted at a site selected based on chronic infestations of canary grass. Seeds of the weed and inoculated wheat were co-seeded directly in field soil. For inoculation, these strains were formulated in sterilized peat and applied to seeds. In pot trials, the invasion of little seed canary grass in wheat reduced wheat grain yield up to 59.9%. Four strains suppressed the weed which resulted in recovery wheat grain yield losses from 20.1 to 66.9%. The field trial showed that the invasion of little seed canary grass reduced wheat grain yields up to 53.9%. Four strains suppressed the weed which resulted into recovery of grain wheat grain yield losses 34.3 to 64.3%. These findings were consistent with improvement of other agronomic, physiological, and chemical parameters of the crop where the four strains of AB (L9, T42, 7O0, and O010) were applied. Keywords Allelopathic bacteria . Biological control . Weed invasion . Weed control . Rhizobacteria . Little seed canary grass . Wheat
Introduction Invasion of weeds in crops continuously poses threats to worldwide crop production even with increased intensity of control practices. It has also increased the costs of food production (Khaliq et al. 2013). Weed invasion can reduce the grain yield of wheat up to 48% depending upon the type of weed, its density, and the duration of weed-crop competition (Hussain et al. 2015). Around 45 weed species are known to invade the wheat crop in Pakistan. Invasion of little seed Responsible Editor: Diane Purchase * Tasawar Abbas [email protected] 1
Soil Microbiology and Biochemistry Laboratory, Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 38040, Pakistan
canary grass (Phalaris minor Retz.) is considered the most troublesome, causing 35% reduction in grain yield of wheat. Hence, it threatens the sustainability and productivity of wheat-based cropping s
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