Quantifying Competitive Supremacy: A Comparative Study of Weed Suppression in Diverse Wheat Varieties

Abstract

Wheat is one of the three most important cereal crop in Nepal. It has significant nutritional value and serves as a major source of food in this country. Though various improved varieties of wheat have been released over the years, production has not been able to fulfill the demand which necessitate importation. One of the major constraints for this problem is weeds. In order to address this predominant issue, this study has been conducted to unveil the most weed resistant varieties to the surface. Varieties used were Sworgadwari, Munal, Dhawalagiri and WK-1204 in a split plot experimental design. The total number of treatments and replications was 8 and 4, respectively. The plot was categorized by main plot and sub plot. Main plot was weeding and no weeding whereas, sub plot was variety. The total area of experimental plot was 481m2. There were total 32 plots and the area of each plot was (3m*4m) 12 m2. The space between the plots was 0.5m2. The research tool used was Microsoft excel and Gene stat. From the research experiment, Sworgadwari was better in performance and more weed competitive in comparison to other varieties as it excelled in several parameters like height, spike length, grain per spike and biological yield followed by Munal exhibiting superiority over number of tillers in meter square and grain yield. Weeding exhibited high numbers in several parameters in comparison to no weeding practices.