Weed Management Through Herbicide Application to Increase Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) Straw Yield

Authors : Esra Çiğnitaş, Hüsrev Mennan

Pages : 98-105

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Publication Date : 2023-12-31

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) is cultivated in many countries for its fibre and seeds. The production of flax is limited by weeds, which causes damage to the crops with a reduction of quality and quantity. The aim of this study was to determine effectiveness of combinations of pre and post emergence herbicides on weeds and flax straw yield. On-farm chemical weed control trial with seven applications were conducted from 2017-2018 in Black Sea region of Turkey. Pendimethalin and a tank mixture of linuron and lenacil were used as pre-emergence herbicides. As post emergence herbicides for broadleaf weeds bentazone+MCPA, tribenuronmethyl, clopyralid; for grass weeds pre mixture of fenoxaprop-P-ethyl+cloquintocet- mexyl were used. Each broadleaf herbicide was mixed with fenoxaprop-P-ethyl+cloquintocet- mexyl as a grass weeds herbicide. The efficacy of herbicides were evaluated in terms of the number of weeds at 7th, 14th, 28th and 56th days following the applications. The straw yield of flax in the experimental fields was measured as well. A total of 15 weed species, 13 dicotyledons and 2 monocotyledons, were found in the trials. The analysis of the collected data has shown significant differences between the weedy-check (no herbicide) and the pre-emergence and post emergence herbicide combinations in number of weeds and straw yield. Herbicide applications on all weed species except for Convolvulus arvensis exhibited a statistical difference compared to the control plots. Although herbicide treatments showed significant difference in yield compared to control, there was no difference in yield between treatments. Overall, the result of this study demonstrated that the use of combinations of pre and post emergence herbicides effectively reduced weed populations and improved competitive ability of flax and finally increased flax straw yield.
Keywords : Weed, Pre emergence, Post emergence, Flax yield, Herbicides, Effectiveness