Weed germinable seedbanks of rice-wheat systems in the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains: Do tillage and edaphic factors explain community variation?

ABSTRACT: Zero tillage (ZT) is widely promoted throughout India's Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) because of its potential to increase wheat productivity and resilience to abiotic stresses. Weeds remain a major barrier to ZT adoption, yet it remains unclear how ZT will influence weed communities in the Eastern-IGP. The primary objective of this study was to characterise the composition of the germinable weed seedbank sampled just prior to the wheat phase of rice-wheat farms in Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh, and examine whether adoption of ZT wheat has shifted weed community composition compared to conventional tillage (CT). Additionally, we examined whether edaphic properties and topography (upland vs. lowland) explain variation in germinable weed seedbank communities. In December 2014, we eval

SUBMITTER: Lowry CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9290468 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature