A Study On Soil Contamination By Wild Oat Seeds In Old And New Lands

Z.R. Yehia, H.R. El-Wekil and M.S. Tewfik
Weed Research Central Laboratory, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt

Abstract

In old and new lands of Egypt forty feddans in ten villages were chosen to determine the relationship between the population of wild oat seeds in soil (seed bank) and preceding winter crops. Assiut governorate represented old land and Sugar beet zone in Alexandria governorate represented new lands; in each old and new lands ten feddans were preceded by berseem and other ten feddans preceded by wheat. Results obtained in old land revealed that the number of wild oat seeds/ft2 at the depth of 20 cm varied between 108 and 909 seeds, in fields preceded by wheat; however, in fields preceded by berseem it varied between 11 and 47 seeds and the reduction of wild oat seeds level in the soil was 92.6%. Results in new lands showed that the number of wild oat seeds/ft2 at a depth of 20 cm varied between 194 and 406 seeds in fields preceded by wheat; however in fields preceded by berseem it varied between 20 and 73 seeds and the reduction of wild oat seeds level in the soil was 84.9%. It can be concluded from this study that using a suitable rotation, i.e. berseem as preceding winter crop, was an important control component in reducing wild oat seeds population in the soil.