effect of soil solarization on the control of different purple nutsedge (cyperus rotundus l.) ecotypes

employment of solarization using the polyethylene mulch can be effective as a non-chemical approach for some control noxious weed management such as purple nutsedge (cyperus rotundus). in order to determine the effect of different levels of polyethylene mulches including one- layer clear polyethylene film, two- layer clear polyethylene film, one- layer black polyethylene film and two- layer black polyethylene film as well as a non-mulched control on three different populations of purple nutsedge from birjand, kahnooj and jiroft, a factorial experiment based on a randomized complete block design with three replications was conducted at research field of birjand university, during a 60-day period in summer 2012. results indicated that polyethylene mulches significantly reduced tubers number and weight, pre-tuber (tubers with a diameter less than 2 mm) number and weight, number and weight of above mulch shoots as well as number and weight of below mulch shoots in all three purple nutsedge populations. one-layer mulches (either clear or black sheets), however, did not show a remarkable preventive effect on purple nutsedge shoots growth, so that plant shoots can easily pass over the plastic sheets. moreover, results showed that the two-layer black polyethylene mulch provided the most effective control among all three purple nutsedge populations.