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Effect of seed age and cultivation on seedling emergence and seed decline of Avena fatua L. in winter barley
Author(s) -
WILSON B. J.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
weed research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1365-3180
pISSN - 0043-1737
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3180.1985.tb00637.x
Subject(s) - seedling , avena fatua , biology , agronomy , dormancy , germination , sowing , population , seed dormancy , plough , horticulture , demography , sociology
Summary Avena fatua was sown in a cultivation experiment in the autumn of 3 successive years. For each population seedling emergence and viable seeds in the soil were recorded for 4 years in crops of winter barley in which new seed production was prevented. About half of the seeds sown were recovered after 1 year. In subsequent years viable seeds in the soil declined more rapidly with tine cultivation than with ploughing. After 4 years up to 5% of the original seeds were still viable. One population exhibited greater seed dormancy than the other two populations, due it is thought to higher summer rainfall and the greater availability of moisture during seed maturation. Most seedlings emerged in the autumn and spring, between 12 and 18 months after sowing. A total of 950 seedlings emerged from 12 000 seeds sown; 21% of these seedlings came from new seeds (< 1 year old), 57% from seeds 1–2 years old, 14% from seeds 2–3 years old and 8% from seeds 3–4 years old. Autumn seedlings arose fairly evenly from all age groups while spring seedlings mostly came from the 1–2‐year‐old seeds. With tine cultivation total seedlings over 4 years represented 9–7% and with ploughing 6–2% of the original seeds sown. A. fatua was more persistent than in previous experiments in spring barley, which suggests that control measures would have to be applied for longer in a succession of winter cereals than spring‐sown crops to reduce A. fatua to low populations.