Efficacy of pre- and post- emergence herbicide against weeds in potato

Weeds are a threat to the yield and production of any field crop due to their high competitive ability, which helps them to compete with crop plants for nutrients, water, light, and space. Herbicides are popular weed control method due to their low cost, application flexibility, and high efficiency. This study aimed to determine the effect of different herbicides on potato weeds, and molecular identification of the three most destructive potato weeds. A total of thirteen pre-and post-emergence herbicides with five distinct modes of action was used. The field results indicated that pre-emergence herbicides provided the best weed management according to the weed flora of Turkiye. Among the herbicides clomazone, flufenacet + metribuzin, and metribuzin (both pre and post) were prominent with weed control efficiency (WCE) of 74.51,74.22, 73.33, and 71.17% yielding 28.71, 27.99, 27.27, and 26.22 tons/ha, respectively. Most of the post-emergence herbicides failed to provide satisfactory results. As for molecular identification, the PCR amplification and gel electrophoresis results identified the weeds as Chenopodium album L., Salsola kali L., and Amaranthus retroflexus L. Keywords: Solanum tuberosum; Weed management; Herbicides; Pre-emergence; Post-emergence; Weed control efficiency; PCR amplification.