Johnson Grass (Sorghum halepense) Interference, its Effect on Crops Yield and Soil attributes under Different Cropping Systems and Management Practices

Abstract

Johnson grass (Sorghum halepense) is one of the most detrimental and toxic weeds among the weed species. Its environment is expanding unceasingly due to deeply expanding of its rhizomes in the soil, self-pollinating reproduction strategy, accelerated growth and poor management which results in production losses of major agronomic crops. Mungbean and sorghum are important crops grown on significant acreage around the world, and a major constraint for their production losses is weeds interference. Thus, field studies were conducted to examine Johnson grass interference, control, and recovery under different management practices and cropping system and its effects on crops production and soil health. Our results indicated that the Johnson grass density was minimized by the application of plastic sheet mulch treatment under wheat-mungbean cropping system. Johnson grass competition had a significant impact on growth and grain yield of both mungbean and sorghum. The crop yield parameters; 100 grain weight and grain yield were lowest in the non-treated treatment (control), while the greatest values of these parameters were recorded in the plastic sheet mulch and post emergence herbicide treatments with wheat-mungbean cropping system. Similarly, soil building attributes; available nitrogen, available phosphorus, available potassium and organic matter content were positively affected by the interaction of plastic sheet mulch + wheat-mungbean cropping system. Besides this, benefit-cost ratio of the research shows that wheat-mungbean cropping system with application of plastic sheet mulch and post emergence herbicide also proved to be economically feasible. Overall, we have concluded that wheat-mungbean and wheat-sorghum are most resilient cropping system with the implementation of plastic sheet mulch and Post Emergence Herbicide to suppress the spread of Johnson grass under changing climatic scenarios.