The level of reciprocal interference between weeds and crops is affected by the competing species and plant populations involved. This research was conducted in order to evaluate the possibility of using the retangular hyperbolic model for predicting soybean grain yield losses caused by beggarticks (Bidens spp.) and arrowleaf sida (Sida rhombifolia L.) infestations. To accomplish this, there were carried out two field experiments in Eldorado do Sul, RS, Brazil, during the 1999/00 and 2000/01 growing seasons. Treatments consisted of beggarticks and arrowleaf densities, which were located according to naturally ocurring population levels in the research area. Was detected that grain yield losses due to increasing densities of these weeds increased non-linearly. The retangular hyperbolic model suits better adjustments when is used grain yield losses than using soybean dry matter at flowering stage or biological yield losses. Through comparison of the parameters estimated for the adjusted model, it is concluded that beggarticks exerts greater interference in soybean than arrowleaf sida.
Bidens spp.; Sida rhombifolia L.; mathematical models; retangular hyperbolic
