Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris. flavesens) seedlings resistance and tolerance to selected soil applied herbicides

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the effect of four herbicides; Alachlor, Metolachlor, Pendimethalin and Trifluralin; applied at five application rates and control, on selected Swiss chard growth parameters). The application rates of herbicides were 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 l/ha plus control. The study was conducted in the greenhouse using a completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. Thus, a total number of 21 treatments were replicated three times to give 63 pots for this study. The parameters measured were days of emergence, germination percentage, plant height, number of leaves, root length, and number of roots. A one-way analysis of variance was populated using SAS 15.0 and mean separation was done at p<0.05 using Tukeys' Multiple Comparison Test. Selected swish chard parameters were statistically influenced by the treatments except for the number of roots. The application of all herbicides at doses above 1.0 l/ha were generally found to delay seed emergence, germination %, crop height, number of leaves, and root length. Thus, this short-term study concludes that the application of all four herbicides can be applied in swish chards to control weeds at doses of 1.0 l/ha or less without negatively influencing swish chard growing parameters. However, future studies are recommended.