Shredded date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) leaves and cereal straws as much material vs. herbicide options for weed suppression in processing tomato

Abstract

A field experiment was run in two years to evaluate five organic materials as the potential alternatives for the use of the herbicides to lessen the weed infestation in tomato production. The application rate of corn residues + sawdust (CRSD), rice straw + sawdust (RSSD), wheat straw + sawdust (WSSD), barley straw + sawdust (BSSD), and shredded date palm leaves + sawdust (SDPLSD) as the mulch materials were 8.5, 9.8, 9.3, 9.4, and 8.8 t ha⁻¹, respectively. Based on the results, SDPLSD represented the lowest weed dry matter by 79.1 g m⁻², which was followed by metribuzin, metribuzin + rimsulfuron, WSSD, and BSSD, with recording 114.9, 120.0, 122.6, and 137.0 g m⁻² of weed dry mass, respectively, in 2016. Moreover, SDPLSD indicated the highest level of weed control efficacy (WCE) by 82.7% in 2017. The most total marketable yield (TMY) was observed in the covered plots with SDPLSD, which was 62.1 and 61.9 t ha⁻¹ in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Overall, SDPLSD could be a rational alternative for herbicide options because of its performance in controlling weed invasion as well as enhancing TMY.

Keywords:

• Weed density
• weed biomass
• weed control efficacy
• tomato plant dry weight
• total marketable yield

Acknowledgments

Funding for this project was provided by the University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Hatch project under accession number 13940009261. The authors would also like to special thank all technicians at the Agronomy Laboratory and Research Farm of the Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili for their assistance through this research. No conflicts of interest have been declared by authors.

Disclosure statement

No conflicts of interest have been declared by authored.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in “figshare” at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.14559705.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.