A survey of weeds found in orchards and their management in Peninsular Malaysia
1999
Ngim, Jeremy | Lim, Jung Lee
A survey was carried out to identify weeds found in orchards and to understand the current weed management practices carried out by fruit farmers in Peninsular Malaysia. A total 134 fruit farms were visited and the prominent weeds found in orchards were: Asystasia gangetica (22%); Paspalum conjugatum (22%); Eleusine indica (21%); Ottochloa nodosa (10%); Borreria latifolia (5%); Ferns (3%); Sedges (3%); Imperata cylindrica (3%) and other minor weeds including legumes (11 %). The use of herbicides was by far the most important tool for the management of weeds in orchards. 97% of the farmers interviewed used herbicides with the frequency of spray application ranging from 2 to 5 spray rounds per year. Other weed control methods, which constituted 3% of the total weed management practices, included mechanical cutting of weeds using grass cutting machines, manual slashing with sickle and animal grazing. Of these alternative methods, mechanical cutting using machine was the most popular practice. When using herbicides, fruit farmers showed a high degree of awareness on issues such as crop safety and the importance of keeping a good ground cover in their orchards for soil and moisture conservation. They rated crop safety when using herbicides as the most important aspect of their farming practices (97%) and keeping a good ground cover to minimise moisture loss as the second most important agronomic practice (54%). In terms of their choice and frequency of using herbicides, paraquat was the most popular (80%), followed by glufosinate (52%), high strength glyphosate (25%) and low strength glyphosate (18%), while other herbicides constitute II %. Paraquat was used on the basis of its good crop safety record and its ability to conserve a ground cover of soft grasses.
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