Estimation of grain yield loss in rice (Oryza sativa) cultivars due to interference by barnyardgrass (Echinochloa spp.)

The objectives of this research were to evaluate the level of barnyardgrass interference in flooded rice cultivars and to compare explicative variables aiming to identify the variable providing better data adjustment to a mathematical model. Thus, a field experiment was carried out during the 2005/2006 growing season, with rice cultivated under the conventional system. Treatments consisted of six rice cultivars differing in life cycle duration and ten barnyardgrass plant populations. Variables were evaluated 28 days after rice emergence. The rectangular hyperbolic model was tested to describe the relationship between rice grain yield loss and explicative variables in plants, dry weight, soil coverage and leaf area. Rice grain yield losses due to barnyardgrass interference may be satisfactorily estimated by the hyperbolic model. IRGA 421, 416, and 417 rice cultivars were the most competitive, attaining suitable data fitting to the model tested for all evaluated variables. The variable Barnyardgrass plant population presents better adjustment to the model than do shoot dry matter mass, soil cover, or leaf area.

competition; empirical model; explicative variables