Competition Between Yellow Nutsedge (Cyperus Sp.) and Maize (Zea Mays L.)

This book covers an extensive knowledge of the author with regard to the competitive interaction of crop plants and a perennial noxious weed of the world. The author served as crop protection expert for many years in Ethiopia before he gets admitted for post graduate study at Institute of Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture in Goettingen, Germany. The result of his research work as a post graduate student was documented to demonstrate the presence of competition between yellow nutsedge (Cyperus esculentus L.) and maize or corn (Zea mays L.). So far, all loss of yield by yellow nutsedge was conducted using a herbicide and other means of control when the weed is growing naturally with crop plants. However, in this experiment the amount of yield losses to maize plant because of competition with the weed was determined without using herbicide and by maintaining different population of the weed to grow with a constant number of crop plant in a controlled environment. The study covers not only the loss of yield because of the weed but also the factors of competition such as nitrogen use efficiency and water use efficiency. The N-15 isotope was used in this experiment to determine the flow of nitrogen in the shoot and root system of both plants. A well-known scientist, agronomist, researcher, and lecturer professor Paul L.G Vlek and a weed scientist professor Barbael Gerowitt advised me while this experiment was conducted. This experiment was very expensive had it been not financed by University of Goettingen and the German Academic Exchange of Germany (DAAD). Therefore, I want to share my experience in conducting this experiment and its results to those academic institutions, farmers, and research institutes who are interested in the subject.

The author used to be a post graduate student at University of Goetingen in Germany when the research was conducted. At present, he is living in United States working as agriculture specialist under United States Custom and Boarder protection previously called USDA, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. He has many years of field experience as plant protection officer in Ethiopia before winning scholarship to conduct a post graduate education at this university. He was interested to compile and revise the results of his research work into a book since little work was conducted to know the effect of competition of yellow nutsedge on maize or corn dry matter yield in a controlled environment.