Response of a weed community to organic and inorganic fertilization in peanut crop under Savannah zone of Senegal, West Africa

Abstract

Weeds are among the most harmful factors limiting crop production in savannah zone of Africa. However, they are crucial for biodiversity and ecosystems sustainable management. A field experiment was conducted in savannah zone of Senegal to determine the effect of organic and mineral fertilization on weed flora in peanut crop. The experiment was laid out in randomize complete block design with four replicates and four treatments (Control, Cattle manure, Compost, and Mineral fertilizer). Our findings show that weed density was not significantly affected by the type of fertilization. However, dry matter of grasses and broadleaf weeds was significantly affected by the treatment respectively in forty and sixty days after treatment. The highest dry weight of grasses was observed in forty days after sowing in cattle manure treatment followed by inorganic fertilizer with respectively 23.7 and 15.2 g/m². In sixty days after sowing, the highest dry matter of broadleaf weeds was recorded in cattle manure treatment with 4.5 g/m². It was noticed that <em>Digitaria horizontalis</em> and <em>Mesosphaerum suaveonlens</em> were the dominant species in all treatment. The biodiversity indices were not significantly influenced by the type of fertilization but the highest values of Shannon-Webber and Simpson indices was recorded in cattle manure treatment. Moreover, the linear correlation between grain yield and diversity indices revealed that Shannon index is highly correlated with the peanut yield.