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Weed Interference in the Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) Plantations of Ethiopia

Received: 2 December 2013     Published: 30 December 2013
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Abstract

Field experiments involving sprawling and erect cultivars of sugarcane and 12 weed competition periods were conducted in randomized complete block design in four replications for two cropping seasons at three sugarcane plantations of Ethiopia. Sugarcane was either kept free of weeds or weeds were allowed to grow for 0, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 weeks after planting (WAP). The sprawling sugarcane cultivars (‘B41227’ and ‘N14’) suppressed weed growth more and gave higher cane yield than the erect cultivar ‘NCo334’. The cane yield loss in unweeded plots compared to weed free plots ranged from 69.7% for sprawling cultivar ‘B41227’ at Methara to 83.5% at Wonji-Shoa for the erect cultivar ‘NCo334’. The beginning and end of critical periods of weed interference on 5% acceptable cane yield loss levels ranged from about 2.5 to 14 WAP for the erect cultivar and from 3 to 13.5 WAP for the sprawling cultivars implying the need to use herbicides or other weed control methods in sugarcane plantations of Ethiopia during these periods to keep cane yield loss levels below 5%.

Published in Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Volume 2, Issue 6)
DOI 10.11648/j.aff.20130206.17
Page(s) 239-247
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2013. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Cane Yield, Critical Period of Weed Competition, Gompertz Equation, Logistic Equation, Weeks after Planting

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Firehun Yirefu, Tamado Tana, Abera Tafesse, Yohannes Zekarias. (2013). Weed Interference in the Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) Plantations of Ethiopia. Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 2(6), 239-247. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20130206.17

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    ACS Style

    Firehun Yirefu; Tamado Tana; Abera Tafesse; Yohannes Zekarias. Weed Interference in the Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) Plantations of Ethiopia. Agric. For. Fish. 2013, 2(6), 239-247. doi: 10.11648/j.aff.20130206.17

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    AMA Style

    Firehun Yirefu, Tamado Tana, Abera Tafesse, Yohannes Zekarias. Weed Interference in the Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) Plantations of Ethiopia. Agric For Fish. 2013;2(6):239-247. doi: 10.11648/j.aff.20130206.17

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  • @article{10.11648/j.aff.20130206.17,
      author = {Firehun Yirefu and Tamado Tana and Abera Tafesse and Yohannes Zekarias},
      title = {Weed Interference in the Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) Plantations of Ethiopia},
      journal = {Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries},
      volume = {2},
      number = {6},
      pages = {239-247},
      doi = {10.11648/j.aff.20130206.17},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20130206.17},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.aff.20130206.17},
      abstract = {Field experiments involving sprawling and erect cultivars of sugarcane and 12 weed competition periods were conducted in randomized complete block design in four replications for two cropping seasons at three sugarcane plantations of Ethiopia. Sugarcane was either kept free of weeds or weeds were allowed to grow for 0, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 weeks after planting (WAP). The sprawling sugarcane cultivars (‘B41227’ and ‘N14’) suppressed weed growth more and gave higher cane yield than the erect cultivar ‘NCo334’. The cane yield loss in unweeded plots compared to weed free plots ranged from 69.7% for sprawling cultivar ‘B41227’ at Methara to 83.5% at Wonji-Shoa for the erect cultivar ‘NCo334’. The beginning and end of critical periods of weed interference on 5% acceptable cane yield loss levels ranged from about 2.5 to 14 WAP for the erect cultivar and from 3 to 13.5 WAP for the sprawling cultivars implying the need to use herbicides or other weed control methods in sugarcane plantations of Ethiopia during these periods to keep cane yield loss levels below 5%.},
     year = {2013}
    }
    

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    T1  - Weed Interference in the Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) Plantations of Ethiopia
    AU  - Firehun Yirefu
    AU  - Tamado Tana
    AU  - Abera Tafesse
    AU  - Yohannes Zekarias
    Y1  - 2013/12/30
    PY  - 2013
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20130206.17
    DO  - 10.11648/j.aff.20130206.17
    T2  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
    JF  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
    JO  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
    SP  - 239
    EP  - 247
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-5648
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20130206.17
    AB  - Field experiments involving sprawling and erect cultivars of sugarcane and 12 weed competition periods were conducted in randomized complete block design in four replications for two cropping seasons at three sugarcane plantations of Ethiopia. Sugarcane was either kept free of weeds or weeds were allowed to grow for 0, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 weeks after planting (WAP). The sprawling sugarcane cultivars (‘B41227’ and ‘N14’) suppressed weed growth more and gave higher cane yield than the erect cultivar ‘NCo334’. The cane yield loss in unweeded plots compared to weed free plots ranged from 69.7% for sprawling cultivar ‘B41227’ at Methara to 83.5% at Wonji-Shoa for the erect cultivar ‘NCo334’. The beginning and end of critical periods of weed interference on 5% acceptable cane yield loss levels ranged from about 2.5 to 14 WAP for the erect cultivar and from 3 to 13.5 WAP for the sprawling cultivars implying the need to use herbicides or other weed control methods in sugarcane plantations of Ethiopia during these periods to keep cane yield loss levels below 5%.
    VL  - 2
    IS  - 6
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Ethiopian Sugar Corporation Research and Training, P.O. Box 15, Wonji, Ethiopia

  • Haramaya University, P.O.Box, 138, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia

  • Ethiopian Sugar Corporation Research and Training, P.O. Box 15, Wonji, Ethiopia

  • Ethiopian Sugar Corporation Research and Training, P.O. Box 15, Wonji, Ethiopia

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