Ground coverage at 25 DAE (%)(2010)
5. CONCLUSION
In the rainfed Mediterranean environment weeds are very competitive with the chickpea and could cause considerable yield losses. Our findings suggest that 2-hoeings applied at 25 and 50 DAE are not always sufficient for controlling weeds throughout the cropping season and preventing considerable chickpea seed yield reduction. However yield loss due to incomplete mechanical weed control can be reduced by highly competitive chickpea genotypes which could be a integral part of a weed management strategy for managing the weeds in both the intra-row and the inter-row space. In this study the chickpea aboveground biomass, the ground coverage in the early stage (25 DAE) and the plant height were positively correlated with the competitive ability of the chickpea (Cb), therefore their inclusion in breeding programs could enable us to predict genotype performance in field conditions where weeds are always present.
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