Weed control in lawns in Ghana

Abstract

The research investigated the effect of various regimes of herbicide application and soil treatments on weed population dynamics in three widely used tropical turfgrass species; Zoysia japonica (Carpet grass), Stenotaphrum secundatum (St. Augustine’s grass) and Chrysopogon aciculatus (Love grass). Turfgrasses were established on 5m × 1.5m plots by sprigging. Soil treatments included the following: a) plots overlaid with 3:1 topsoil/composted cow manure mix at a depth of 100 mm and b) plots with no topsoil or composted cow manure. Plots were then treated with post emergence herbicide (glyphosate) either once or twice. Non-treated plots were also included and served as the control. The research work was randomized and analyzed as unbalanced randomized complete block design. The results showed that the herbicide treatment did not reduce the quantity of germinating weeds on the plots and also there were no significant differences between the herbicide treatments. Boerhavia diffusa (Boerhavia) and Cyperus rotundus (Cyperus) were the predominant weed species. Love grass plots were invaded by higher quantity of weeds compared to the other two turfgrass species