Soil solarisation for control of weed propagules

One of the problems of cropland was competition with weeds. Weeds grow from the reserve of weed propagules in the soil. This research was conducted in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The aims of the research to know the effects of soil solarisation on weed propagules in the soil. The research was started with a survey to select land overgrown by homogenous of weed species. The research consisted of two factors and arranged in the randomized complete block design (RCBD), replicated three times. The difference between the average of the treatment was compared using DMRT at 5 significant levels. The first factor was coloured polyethylene (PE) films, which consisted of three levels: black, red and transparent. The second factor was the duration of soil solarisation, which consisted of three levels: 10; 20; and 30 days. One treatment was non-solarisation as control. The results of the research showed that soil solarisation was able to reduce weed propagules in the soil depth. The effect of soil solarisation would be more effectively reduce the greatest weed propagules up to 9-12 cm soil depth. Soil solarisation for 30 days was more frequently common in days in high soil temperature. The using transparent PE films and soil solarisation for 30 days are more effectively reduce 77.8 of weed propagules in 0-3 cm soil depth. © School of Engineering, Taylor’s University