engleski

Mechanical and chemical alternatives for weed control in watermelon (Citrullus lanatus L.)

Watermelon plants require plenty of water and soil nutrients to produce satisfactory yield. Competing weeds prevent watermelon plants from accessing all the moisture in the soil and can cause weak or stunted growth. Aditionally, weeds can cause severe problem in watermelon production because of the low planting density, prostrate vining habit, and slow growth rate of crop early in the season. From all that reasons weed control is recognized as the major production problem of watermelon prosucers. Economic benefit from successful weed control option is what watermelon growers need. However, teh problem in determining economic feasibility of various control methods in watermelon production is complex decision influenced by many factors. The effect of costs, yield, timelines and alternative uses of labor are the factors considered in comparing various methods of weed control in this study. Economic evaluation of different weed control options shows that most competitive one is black polyethilene mulch. It is efficient in weed control end enables earlier harvest time of two weeks before other tow control options. Achieveg Gross Margin of 118.050, 00 (kn/ha) is also very competitive in relation to many other alternative crops.

watermelon ; chemical weed control ; mechanical weed control ; economic evaluation

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