Published in Scientific Papers. Series B, Horticulture, Volume LIX
Written by Nina GERASIMOVA, MilenaYORDANOVA

The aim of this field experiment was to study the effect of two mulching materials on weed infestation and yield of leek,cv. 'Bulgarian Giant’. The field experiment was carried out in the period 2010-2012 in the experimental field onUniversity of Forestry – Sofia. The experimental design was the randomized block with four replicates. Two differentmulching materials – barley straw mulch (BSM) and mulch from spent mushroom compost (SMCM) were comparedwith two control variants – non-mulching, but weeding control (WC) and non-mulching and non-weeding control(NWC). The mulching materials were spread manually in a 5 cm thick layer, one week after transplanting the seedlingsof leek. On the 30th, 60th and 90th day after mulching were recorded the number of weeds on each plot. It was found outthat mulching with BSM and SMCM have a significant depressing effect on weeds, especially on Echinochloa crus-galliL., Setaria glauca (L.) Beauv., Galinsoga parviflora Cav., Polygonum lapathifolium L. and Portulaca oleracea L. Theyields were increased from 3.7 to 4 times when the leek was grown with mulches, compared with NWC. Data weresubjected to statisticall analysis using dispersion method. Means were separated by application of Duncan’s MultipleRange Test at p ≤ 0.05.

[Read full article] [Citation]

SPUPOPUPNO1