PRELIMINARY STUDY ON GERMINABLE WINTER WEED SEED BANK AT GIZA FARM RESEARCH STATION, AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH CENTER, EGYPT

Abstract

Recently, weed seed bank studies became a milestone and a crucial component of weed management in agro-ecosystems in the world. Uptill now, there are a few studies about weed seed bank in Egypt. For this reason, establishing weed seed bank studies isneeded for weed management in Egypt.The present study was carried out during 2018 and 2019 winter seasons toevaluatethe magnitude of the non-dormant weed seed bank of winter annual weeds in five different basins at Giza Research Station.Weed seed germination was kept under observation for a period of six weeks andthe germinated seeds were counted weekly and removed after that.The results indicated that most of weed seeds were concentrated in the above 0-5cm layer followed by 5-10cm layer, and the lowest ones were found in 10-15cm layerfrom soil surface.Most of weed seeds were germinated in the 1 st and 2 nd weeks, and decreased gradually in the next weeks, where about 95% of weed seeds in soil profile were germinated in the first five weeks. The existed weed flora contained 18 species which differedin their densities from one basin to another.The highest number of germinated weed seeds were recorded in basin 20 (375.5 and 456.88 seedlings/kg of soil) in 1 st and 2 nd seasons, respectively, while the east number of germinated weed seeds was found in basins 19 and 6 (65.56 and 87.69 seedlings/kg of soil) in 1 st and 2 nd seasons, respectively. By using ANOVA statistical analysis experimental error decreased by taking 3-4 soil samples, to give adequate accuracy for soil seed bank determination than taking one soil sample.In conclusion weed seed bank determination in soil is a key for sustainable agriculture in Egypt. The present study throws the light on vertical or horizontal distributions in soil profile in seed bank as a good tool for improving weed management in cropping system in Egypt.