DISTRIBUTION PATTERN OF WEEDS IN WHEAT CROP GROWN IN DISTRICT KHANEWAL, PUNJAB, PAKISTAN

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Affiliations & Notes ⌄

¹Department of Botany, Government College University, Katcheri Road 54000, Lahore, Punjab Pakistan. 2Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650500, PR China. 3Department of Environmental Sciences, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University Sheringal, Upper Dir, 18000, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. 4 Government Primary School Allahabad, Khanewal, Punjab, Pakistan. 5 Department of Botany, University of Punjab, Lahore, Punjab Pakistan Correspon

Article Info ⌄

Abstract

Weed infestation is among the main biotic factors affecting growth and yield of

various crops. This issue is more drastic for cereal crops like wheat which is the staple food

crop of over 2.5 billion population of the world. One the control strategies is to investigate

the distribution pattern of weeds under field conditions. In this regard, a survey study was

conducted to investigate the distribution pattern of weed species in wheat crop during 2016-

18 in district Khanewal, Punjab Pakistan. Thirty-six weed species distributed among fifteen

different families were collected from the study area. Family Poaceae was the predominant

with 10 species, while family Asteraceae was the second most dominant family with four

weed species. Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. was the most frequently found specie with

frequency value of 79.1% while Paspalum distichum had the highest importance value index

(6.96) among the weeds of the study area. Based on these findings, it is recommended to

create awareness among the farmers about the identified weeds so that weed infestation

could be controlled with the recommended practices.

Abstract