Investigation of the Feasibility of Smothering Weeds by Selected Weeds species and Soft Herbs in Newly Planted Tea

Currently, more eco-friendly weed management strategies are to be well focused on tea in Sri Lanka concerning the health awareness among tea consumers in the globe. Ground covering by dead or live mulch is a recommended practice in tea to smother the weed growth. Besides, some feasibilities also exist to leave some selected weeds and so called ‘soft herbs’ which are considered to be desirable to serve as a live mulch in tea fields. A field experiment was thus conducted to investigate the feasibility of leaving such weed species in a newly planted tea field at Ury estate of the Balangoda Plantations PLC, Passara, from February ۲۰۲۱ to August ۲۰۲۲. A combination of Ageratum conyzoides L and Bidens pilosa L. and soft herbs, a combination of A conyzoides, B. pilosa, Borrelia ocymoides (Burm. f.) and soft herbs, a combination of A. conyzoides, B. pilosa, Commelina benghalensis L. and soft herbs, a combination of A. conyzoides, B. pilosa, Borreria ocymoides, C. benghalensis and soft herbs were established as treatments and slash weeded each treatment at two months interval. Leaving all weeds on plots was treated as the ‘Control’, which was weeded at three months intervals. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCDB) with four replicates. All weed species and soft herbs present on plots were evaluated initially. Fresh and dry weights of all removed weeds were measured. Significantly a higher weed dry weight was recorded only in the control treatment compared to one treated plot. There was no significant difference in tea growth between treatments. Hence, it is apparent that leaving such favourable weeds as a ground cover under controlled conditions in newly planted tea fields is feasible to suppress the other weeds in ecological means.

کلیدواژه ها:

Ecological weed management ، Favourable weeds ، Slash weeding ، Soft herbs ، Tea