Abstract
An on-farm experiment was conducted in August 2010 to evaluate the efficacy of various weed management methods used in pineapple cultivation in Ghana in limiting the prevalence of the pineapple mealybugs and their tending ants. The experiment was a 5X5 Latin Square design with 5 replications. The weed management methods (the treatments) imposed was weedy check (no weed control), manual weeding by hoeing, synthetic herbicide application, plastic mulch + manual weeding and plastic mulch + synthetic herbicide application. The field was ploughed and harrowed and plots each measuring 2m by 2.7m were marked out. Suckers obtained from a nearby commercial farm were planted at the spacing of 90 x 60 x 25 cm. Fertilizer was applied at the recommended rate and pests were controlled by spraying with both fungicide and an insecticide. Data taken from the inner 20 plants of each plot were: time taken for weeds to re-emerge, weed species that emerged, weed population and weight and presence of mealybugs on the fruits and in the root zone. The result showed that, time of weed re-emergence was longest in the plastic mulch + herbicide treatment, whilst re-emergence was fastest in the manual weed control treatment. Guinea grass (Panicum maximum) belonging to the Poaceae family re-emerged on all treatment plots. The plastic mulch + herbicide treatment was able to control all broadleaved weeds, whilst most broadleaved and grass species re-emerged from the manual weeding treatment throughout the period. Weed population, weed dry weight and number of weed species re-emerged, were all significantly lower in the plastic mulch + herbicide treatment than in all other treatments but were greatest in the manual weed treatment. The results indicated that weed control efficiency of 90.6, 80.2, 73.4 and 69.2% in the plastic mulch + herbicide, plastic mulch + manual control, herbicide alone and the manual control over the weedy check, respectively. However, mealybug populations were not affected by the weed management methods employed, although all treatment effects were significantly greater than weedy check. The ability of the treatments to reduce mealybug populations on both the fruits and the root zone might be that during weed control, the mealybugs were exposed to predators that feed on them or that weed control dislodges their tending ants which subsequently limit their spread. This study affirms that proper weed control would reduce mealybug population and minimize the damage to fruits.Keywords: pineapple, mealy bug, weed control efficiency, plastic mulch, guinea grass
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Claims 14
Claim · model-written summary
Weeds re-emerged latest under plastic mulch plus herbicide.
- Taxon
- pineapple
Ananas comosust0 - Treatment
- plastic mulch + herbicide treatmente0
- Interactor
- weede0weed
- Outcome
- time of weed re-emergencee0
- Direction
- longeste0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“time of weed re-emergence was longest in the plastic mulch + herbicide treatment”
t0“pineapple”
Claim · model-written summary
Weeds re-emerged fastest after manual weed control.
- Taxon
- pineappleAnanas comosust0
- Treatment
- manual weed control treatmente0
- Outcome
- re-emergencee0
- Direction
- fasteste0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“re-emergence was fastest in the manual weed control treatment.”
t0“pineapple”
Claim · model-written summary
Guinea grass re-emerged on all treatment plots.
- Taxon
- pineappleAnanas comosust0
- Interactor
- Panicum maximum
.jpg?width=60)
Megathyrsus maximuse0weed - Outcome
- re-emerged on all treatment plotse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
.jpg?width=500)
Verbatim
e0“Guinea grass (Panicum maximum) belonging to the Poaceae family re-emerged on all treatment plots.”
t0“pineapple”
Claim · model-written summary
Plastic mulch plus herbicide controlled all broadleaved weeds.
- Taxon
- pineappleAnanas comosust0
- Treatment
- plastic mulch + herbicide treatmente0
- Interactor
- broadleaved weedse0weed
- Outcome
- broadleaved weedse0
- Direction
- controle0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The plastic mulch + herbicide treatment was able to control all broadleaved weeds”
t0“pineapple”
Claim · model-written summary
Most broadleaved and grass species re-emerged after manual weeding.
- Taxon
- pineappleAnanas comosust0
- Treatment
- manual weeding treatmente0
- Interactor
- broadleaved and grass speciese0weed
- Outcome
- broadleaved and grass species re-emergede0
Not reportedComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“most broadleaved and grass species re-emerged from the manual weeding treatment throughout the period.”
t0“pineapple”
Claim · model-written summary
Weed population, dry weight and species count were significantly lowest under plastic mulch plus herbicide and greatest with manual weeding.
- Taxon
- pineappleAnanas comosust0
- Treatment
- plastic mulch + herbicide treatmente0
- Interactor
- Weede0weed
- Outcome
- Weed population, weed dry weight and number of weed species re-emergede0
- Direction
- lowere0
- Comparator
- all other treatmentse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Weed population, weed dry weight and number of weed species re-emerged, were all significantly lower in the plastic mulch + herbicide treatment than in all other treatments but were greatest in the manual weed treatment.”
t0“pineapple”
Claim · model-written summary
plastic mulch + herbicide achieved 90.6 weed-control efficiency over the weedy check.
- Taxon
- pineappleAnanas comosust0
- Treatment
- plastic mulch + herbicidee0
- Outcome
- weed control efficiencye0
- Direction
- higherinferrede0
- Value
- 90.6e0
- Comparator
- weedy checke0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“weed control efficiency of 90.6, 80.2, 73.4 and 69.2% in the plastic mulch + herbicide, plastic mulch + manual control, herbicide alone and the manual control over the weedy check, respectively.”
t0“pineapple”
Claim · model-written summary
plastic mulch + manual control achieved 80.2 weed-control efficiency over the weedy check.
- Taxon
- pineappleAnanas comosust0
- Treatment
- plastic mulch + manual controle0
- Outcome
- weed control efficiencye0
- Direction
- higherinferrede0
- Value
- 80.2e0
- Comparator
- weedy checke0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“weed control efficiency of 90.6, 80.2, 73.4 and 69.2% in the plastic mulch + herbicide, plastic mulch + manual control, herbicide alone and the manual control over the weedy check, respectively.”
t0“pineapple”
Claim · model-written summary
herbicide alone achieved 73.4 weed-control efficiency over the weedy check.
- Taxon
- pineappleAnanas comosust0
- Treatment
- herbicide alonee0
- Outcome
- weed control efficiencye0
- Direction
- higherinferrede0
- Value
- 73.4e0
- Comparator
- weedy checke0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“weed control efficiency of 90.6, 80.2, 73.4 and 69.2% in the plastic mulch + herbicide, plastic mulch + manual control, herbicide alone and the manual control over the weedy check, respectively.”
t0“pineapple”
Claim · model-written summary
manual control achieved 69.2% weed-control efficiency over the weedy check.
- Taxon
- pineappleAnanas comosust0
- Treatment
- manual controle0
- Outcome
- weed control efficiencye0
- Direction
- higherinferrede0
- Value
- 69.2%e0
- Comparator
- weedy checke0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“weed control efficiency of 90.6, 80.2, 73.4 and 69.2% in the plastic mulch + herbicide, plastic mulch + manual control, herbicide alone and the manual control over the weedy check, respectively.”
t0“pineapple”
Claim · model-written summary
Mealybug populations showed no difference among weed-management methods.
- Taxon
- pineappleAnanas comosust0
- Treatment
- weed management methods employede0
- Interactor
- mealybuge0pest
- Outcome
- mealybug populationse0
- Direction
- not affectede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“mealybug populations were not affected by the weed management methods employed”
t0“pineapple”
Claim · model-written summary
All weed treatments significantly reduced mealybugs compared with the weedy check.
- Taxon
- pineappleAnanas comosust0
- Treatment
- all treatment effectse0
- Outcome
- treatment effectse0
- Direction
- greatere0
- Comparator
- weedy checke0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“all treatment effects were significantly greater than weedy check.”
t0“pineapple”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors hypothesize that weed control exposes mealybugs to predators or disrupts tending ants.
- Taxon
- pineappleAnanas comosust0
- Interactor
- mealybugsPseudococcidaee0pest
- Outcome
- mealybugse0
- Qualifier
- exposed to predators that feed on them or that weed control dislodges their tending antse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“during weed control, the mealybugs were exposed to predators that feed on them or that weed control dislodges their tending ants which subsequently limit their spread.”
t0“pineapple”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors conclude that proper weed control would reduce mealybug populations and fruit damage.
- Taxon
- pineappleAnanas comosust0
- Interactor
- mealybuge0pest
- Outcome
- proper weed controle0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“proper weed control would reduce mealybug population and minimize the damage to fruits.”
t0“pineapple”
The same questions in other papers
herbicide · weed · Ananas comosus (pineapple)Results agree
2 papers in the same direction as this paper
- positive
- positive
mulching · weed · Ananas comosus (pineapple)Results agree
2 papers in the same direction as this paper
- positive
- positive
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.