Growth Analysis of Dry Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) in Different Weed Interference Situations

In production agriculture, weed plants play an important role in yield reduction. Analysis of crop growth can reveal underlying processes of yield loss under weed interference conditions. Therefore, an experiment was conducted in 2011 in order to assess the effect of weed competition on different aspects of dry bean growth. The experiment was a randomized complete block design with 3 replications. Treatments included weed-infested and weed-free periods until 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 days after crop emergence. Aboveground dry matter and leaf area were measured every two weeks. The functional approach to growth analysis was used to examine temporal patterns in crop growth in weed interference conditions. A negative relationship between weed biomass and dry bean growth indexes was observed. In all treatments, crop biomass had a similar trend and progressively increased over the crop cycle, then after reaching the maximum amount, gradually decreased. The lowest crop biomass (676.60 g m-2) was observed in season-long weed-infested treatment, while the maximum one (1238.82 g m-2) was recorded in season-long weed-free treatment. Relative growth rate (RGR) and net assimilation rate (NAR) had a declining trend during the growing season. Increase in weed-infested periods intensified decrease of them. Effect of weed competition on crop growth was trifle at the early of growing season. Since NAR and RGR represent photosynthesis potential and dry matter accumulation of the crop, their reduction can be the main cause of yield loss.