UDC 632.51:633.63
DOI 10.36461/NP.2025.76.4.013

WEED INFESTATION OF SUGAR BEET CROPS IN PENZA REGION
E.V. Zheryakov, Candidate of Agricultural Sciences, Associate Professor;
S.A. Semina, Doctor of Agriculture Sciences, Professor
Penza State Agrarian University, Penza, Russia,
e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The monitoring of sugar beet crops phytosanitary conditions was carried out in the Penza Region from 1998 to 2018. A more complex weed structure was found with hard-to-eradicate perennial varieties predomi-nating. The infestation dynamics of root-suckering weeds increased from 1.1 to 6.1 pcs/m², while the number of sow thistle and milk thistle increased from 6.40 to 14.10 pcs/m². The annual dicotyledonous varieties were dominated in the weed structure with 51.01-56.73%, represented primarily by Amaranthus retroflexus L. and Chenopodium album L. The germination period of weed seeds was extended with the maximum number of seedlings in May-June. The high efficacy of triple application of combined herbicides (betanal group in combi-nation with triflusulfuron-methyl) during the most vulnerable stages of weed lifecycle was experimentally proved. The biological efficacy of the herbicides (94.7-98.5%) was proved to be dependent on the phenological stage of weed lifecycle. Temporal trends in the transformation of weeds in sugar beet agrocenoses were iden-tified, and critical periods of maximum weed vulnerability to the herbicide treatment were observed.
Keywords: sugar beet, weeds, phytosanitary monitoring, herbicides, biological efficiency, weed infesta-tion.

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