ISHS Acta Horticulturae 825: I Balkan Symposium on Fruit Growing
HERBIGATION IN A CHERRY ORCHARD – EFFICIENCY OF PENDIMETHALIN |
| Authors: | Z. Rankova, K.S. Koumanov, K. Kolev, S. Shilev |
| Keywords: | herbigation, weeds, soil herbicide, herbicide efficiency, soil respiration |
| Abstract:
The efficiency of the soil systemic selective herbicide pendimethalin (Stomp 33 EC) was studied when applied in a cherry orchard through the microirrigation system. The investigation was carried out in 2005-2007 on Fluvisol with the following variants: 1) application through a system for undertree microsprinkling (MS); 2) application through a drip irrigation system (DI); 3) standard treatment using a backpack sprayer (BS); and 4) non-treated control (Ctrl.). Pendimethalin was applied at a rate of 6.0 L ha-1 in the period 20-25 March, before the beginning of vegetation. A proportional dosing pump “Dosatron” was used for injecting the herbicide in the irrigation system. The herbicide efficiency on 16 annual weed species, forming the weed association within the row strip of a young sweet cherry orchard, was estimated every 30th day after the date of treatment using the count-weight method. The effect of the herbicide treatments on soil micro-flora was studied, too. The results showed that microirrigation could be successfully used for herbicide application in orchards. In all treated variants the post-treatment herbicide effect of pendimethalin lasted three to four months, depending on the row strip shadowing by trees. Herbigation had no negative effect on both the tree growth and yielding and the soil microbial activity. The best herbicide efficiency was established in the variant of microsprinkling herbigation. According to the obtained results, herbigation could be considered an efficient and ecologically sound approach for weed control in modern fruit production. | |
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