Competition and Control of Cereal Weeds in British and Algerian Wheat

The study compared weed competition and weed control in cereal/weed systems, contrasting throughout Algerian and British wheat cultivars. Cultivars of winter wheat cv. Bidi 17 and spring wheat cv. Broom, wild oat (Avena fatua L.) and charlock (Sinapis arvensis L.) were planted separately in order to examine the response of individual plants to competitive stress in a simple system incorporating varying population densities: 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 plants/pot. Total dry weight 'production per plant (above ground) decreased as the density increased for each species. The reduction was greatest with both wheat cvs, followed by charlock and wild oat, which was least affected. Competition affected shoot dry weight, leaf number and, especially tiller number