COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF DIVERSITY AND HOMOGENEITY OF WEED COMMUNITIES OF WHEAT CROP IN TEHSIL RAZAR DISTRICT SWABI, PAKISTAN

Abstract

The present study explains comparative evaluation of diversity and degree of homogeneity of weed communities of wheat crop using different indices. This study was conducted in tehsil Razar District Swabi Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan during February-April 2016. A total of 200 quadrats having size (1x1 m²) were placed in 20 randomly selected wheat fields in the study area. Analytical quantitative characters like density, frequency and cover were calculated for each weed species. Twenty weed communities were established in 20 selected sites. Comparative evaluation of diversity revealed that Menhinick index ranged from 0.61 to 1.72, Margalef richness ranged from 2.82 to 6.3, Simpson diversity index ranged from 0.78 to 0.94, Shannon-Wiener diversity index varied from 2.13 to 3.24, Pielou evenness index varied from 0.67 to 0.97 while Pichi-Sermolli maturity index ranged from 39.6 to 67.7. Based on Raunkiaer’s law of frequency, out of 20 weed communities, 13 communities were found heterogeneous while 7 were homogeneous. Maximum number of weed species were distributed in frequency class A, B and E.