Diversity of weed species in three monocultures from Bajio, Mexico

Abstract

Due to weeds are a strong competitor for crops, it is better to know their ecology. The aim was to compare the abundance, richness and, diversity of weeds from monocultures of corn, wheat and sorghum. From November to May the crops were visited three times a month, the sampling was made by quadrants of 2 m². All plants were identified at the species level and organized by their immigration status. Diversity index, accumulation curves were calculated, also a Kruskal Wallis test and AD were made to compare between weeds populations. 28 species were found, the total richness was obtained for mz and tg but it did not for sg. MZ was the cropping with more species (S= 26) and, a significantly high diversity (H= 2.94), it also was observed in native and exotic weed (H = 1.91 y H = 1.94, respectively). The weed abundance was significantly high in mz. The composition of weed populations was different between crops, the AD with 83% of variance explained separated three groups according to the type of crop, which was reflected in the structure of the weed populations. Plant communities are different between crops despite being in a spatially homogeneous environment. The diversity values found here are relatively equal to or higher than some reported for traditional farming systems, in addition to recognizing that local diversity persists in these crops.