2025/09/16 by Gebrehiwot, Haftamu Gebretsadik, Gebretsadik, Fisha Berhe, Araya, Alemu
#Sugarcane varieties #Weed competition #Wolkait Sugar Factory
paper · doi:10.71624/70tjp493
Field experiment was conducted to evaluate weed competitiveness of sugarcane varieties in Wolkait, Western Zone of Tigray, Ethiopia during 2019/20 growing season. Six varieties, NCO310, NCO334, Mex54/245, CO678, CO680 and B52/298 (Susceptible check) were tested in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Results showed that weed cover, weed density and weed biomass recorded from the different fields of the different sugarcane varieties showed significant differences (p≤0.05). Higher weed coverage (16.5%), denser weeds (10.5/m2) and higher weed biomass (78.0g/m2) were recorded from fields with the susceptible check B52/298 whereas lower weed coverage (5.8%), less dense weeds (3.5/m2) and lower weed biomass (26.0g/m2) were recorded from the variety NCO310. Varieties also showed significant variations in their agronomic traits directly related to their weed competitiveness. Relatively higher tillers were counted from NCO310 (12 tillers/plant) and NCO334 (11 tillers/plant) but lower tillers were counted from CO678 (4.7 tillers/plant) at ten months after planting. Consistently, higher cane yield was obtained from NCO310 (209.5 t ha-1) and NCO334 (184.2 t ha-1) whereas lower yields were recorded from Mex54/245 (127.5 t ha-1) and B52/298 (126.4 t ha-1). Differences in cane yield loss due to weeds was observed among the varieties. Higher cane yield losses i.e., 38.1% and 37.2 %, were recorded from B52/298 and Mex54/245 respectively in contrast to the lowest loss i.e., 14.1% recorded from NCO334. Generally, NCO310 and NCO334 showed solid competitive ability to weeds, whereas the susceptible check (B52/298) and the variety Mex54/245 were found less competitive with different weed species.