Assessment of critical period of crop-weed competition in grain sorghum under Sudanian conditions of Southern Senegal

Weeds are among the most harmful factors limiting sorghum production under Sudanian conditions of southern Senegal. Despite, the taxonomic structure of the flora is relatively well known, few studies have focused on crop-weed competition. Field experiment was carried out to determine the critical time for weed competition in grain sorghum. Ten treatments, weedy for initial 15, 30, 45 and 60 DAS and then weed-free, and weed-free for initial 15, 30, 45 and 60 DAS and then weedy, weed-free and weedy up to harvest were assigned in a randomized block design with four replications. The beginning and the end of critical period of weed competition were determined respectively under fertilized and unfertilized conditions. The results showed that more the weeds competition is longer, more sorghum parameters of growth and yield are reduced. Sorghum yield were significantly influenced by many factors such as year, nitrogenous fertilization and weeding periods. The highest plant height, dry matter, and yield were recorded in weed free treatment followed by weed free up to 60 DAS and weedy up to 15 DAS. Plant height, dry matter and yield decreased significantly with each increase in competition period. Therefore, the lowest growth parameters and yield were noticed in weedy check treatment followed by weedy up to 60 DAS and weed free up to 15 DAS. Moreover, our findings showed that sorghum height, dry matter and grain yield increased significantly under fertilized conditions compared to unfertilized conditions, which is widely used in traditional cropping system. The maximum competition between crop and weed was between 15-45 and 15-55 DAS under unfertilized conditions (F0) and 10-55 and 15-55 DAS under fertilized conditions (F1), which can be considered as critical period of crop-weed competition. The weeding practice should be adopted during these periods for getting optimum sorghum production under Sudanian conditions of Senegal.