Weed seed bank dynamics in long term trials of conservation agriculture

Conservation agriculture (CA) has been identified as an effective tool for sustainably increasing the crop yields but weed control is perceived as one of the most challenging issues (Pittelkow et al., 2015). Due to the reduction in tillage operations, weed seed bank composition and dynamics in CA will change compared to conventional tillage. Soil weed seed bank is the reservoir of weed seeds in the soil which determines the species composition. The seed bank is the most important source of weeds and represents a significant point in the weed life cycle and weed population is directly related to their seed bank. Knowledge of the seed bank size and its composition can be used to predict the future weed infestation and control strategies, weed seed production after the cropping season, estimation of crop-weed competition and crop yield loss and the crop economics as well (Begume et al., 2006). There are very few studies examining the effects of CA principles on weed seed bank dynamics. These types of studies are needed to include weed control in cost-benefit analyses concerning the adoption of CA. Considering this fact, long terms CA trials were conducted to examine the effect of CA principles on weed seed bank dynamics.