Abstract:
A survey was conducted in different field crops of six districts (Chilga, Gondarzuria, Metema, Takussa,
Dabat and Dembia) in Northwestern Ethiopia within 2016 and 2017 cropping seasons. The objective of
the study was to identify the most important weed species and to determine their frequency, density
and uniformity at different altitudes. A quantitative and qualitative method was employed for the
enumeration and identification of weed species. Quadrats were laid along transects and individual weed
species in each quadrat was identified and counted. Frequency, uniformity, similarity index and relative
abundance were used to determine the weed community structure. A total of 76 weed species
belonging to 65 genera within 27 families were identified across different field crops. The most
dominant families, based on the family dominance index (FDI), were Asteraceae, Poaceae, and
Fabaceae with 78.97, 63.76, and 20.72 FDI, respectively. The most frequent, abundant and dominant
weed species were Digitaria abyssinica (Hochst. Ex A. Rich), Cyperus rotundus L. and Cynodon
dactylon L. The average values for frequency and dominance of weed species in arable fields ranged
between 49.34 to 59.87% and 3 to 3.69%, respectively. Results obtained from this study would be useful
in creating a weed management programme and making inform decision on choice of herbicides and
directing research toward new or improved weed control measures.
