Comparison of safe weed control methods with chemical herbicide in potato field.

Background: Mulching and manual or mechanical hoeing are the backbone of weed control strategies in organic agriculture. So, two field experiments were established in the village of Kafer El-Khawazim, Talkha district, Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt, during the winter seasons of 2017 and 2018. The experiments were conducted to evaluate the efficiency of the safe weed control methods of mulching and manual hoeing in comparison with metribuzine herbicide on potato plants and associated weeds. Results: The results indicated that the treatment of black plastic mulch was the superior treatment in controlling broadleaved, grassy, and total weeds as compared to other treatments under study. Metribuzin herbicide came in the second rank in controlling broadleaved weeds. Concerning to grassy and total weeds, banana leaf and cheeseweed straw mulches follow the black plastic mulch ideal treatment. The results also revealed that the use of black plastic mulch and banana leaf mulch followed by cheeseweed straw mulch led to the highest significant increase in growth characteristics and tuber yield of potato plants. This in turn correlated with a significant increase in tuber contents of phosphorus, potassium, and carbohydrate percentage than unweeded control treatment. Conclusion: Black plastic mulch followed by banana leaf mulch and cheeseweed straw mulch were the ideal safe treatments in controlling total weeds. This in turn reflected on potato plants by scoring the maximum values of yield characters as compared to unweeded check. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]