Communications in Biometry and Crop Science

Communications
in Biometry and Crop Science

 

 

Contents

REGULAR ARTICLE
Weed biology and growth analysis of Celosia argentea L., a weed associated with groundnut and finger millet crops in southern India

Gogga M. Ravindra, Shankarappa Sridhara, Gubbi K.Girijesh, Hooradahalli V.Nanjappa


Communications in Biometry and Crop Science (2008) 3 (2), 80-87.
 

ABSTRACT
An experiment was conducted to study the weed biology of Celosia argentea L., during the rainy season of 2007 at Navile, Shimoga, India (14°1'N, 75°42'E and 650 m AMSL). The results showed that more leaves (44.8 ± 1.17) and branches (18.2 ± 0.52) and taller plants (107.5 ± 3.40) were present at plant maturity of C. argentea. The plant took 5.87 ± 0.25 d, 6.00 ± 0.49 d and 61.10 ± 1.76 d for germination, branching and maturity respectively. At maturity highest dry matter (DM) accumulation was observed in the stem (9.81 ± 0.22 g plant-1) compared to other plant parts. Higher absolute growth rate (AGR) (0.51 ± 0.01 g plant-1 d-1), net assimilation rate (NAR) (0.03 ± 0.00 g cm-2 d-1), relative growth rate (RGR) (0.07 ± 0.00 g g-1 d-1) and crop growth rate (CGR) (g m-2d-1) were observed between 30 and 50 days after sowing (DAS). Leaf area duration (LAD) of 2.70 ± 0.036 d was observed between 50-70 DAS with a total LAD of 4.83 d. At maturity C. argentea had a leaf area of 36.25 ± 0.79 cm2 plant-1. The heat use efficiency of Celosia was 0.03 g GDD-1. Dry matter accumulation in C. argentea complied with different mathematical models such as the logistic, Richards and Gompertz curves.
 

Key Words: weed biology; growth analysis; Celosia argentea L.