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A comparison of techniques for estimation of arable soil seedbanks and their relationship to weed flora
Author(s) -
BALL D. A.,
MILLER S. D.
Publication year - 1989
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.1365-3180.1989.tb01307.x
Subject(s) - weed , agronomy , flora (microbiology) , arable land , tillage , biology , weed control , germination , seedling , ecology , agriculture , genetics , bacteria
Summary. Post harvest soil samples taken during the autumn of 1985 and 1986 were split and estimates made of the weed seedbank using two methods: (1) a physical separation of seed from the soil mineral fraction by a sieving/flotation procedure and (2) by placing soil in shallow containers in a greenhouse where seeds could germinate and be periodically counted over a period of eight months. Seedbank estimates derived from each procedure were analysed to determine the suitability of each technique for detecting treatment differences from an experiment evaluating tillage/herbicide effects on weed populations. Both techniques were suitable for determination of seedbank changes due to different tillage treatments and herbicide inputs. The two techniques also proved effective for detection of individual species in the seedbank and the two techniques provided comparable estimates of the relative density of individual weed species in the seedbank. Weed seedbank estimates obtained by the physical extraction procedure from the autumn 1985 soil samples were correlated with weed seedling counts made in the spring of 1986. In most cases, weed seedlings represented less than 10% of the number of seeds estimated by physical extraction the preceding autumn. Individual species seed estimates and subsequent weed counts were poorly correlated which indicated that the seed count estimates alone were poor predictors of weed flora.