Methods to Study Crop Weed Competition Experiments - A Review

Various methods have been used to study the relationship of neighbouring plants growing in mixed stands. The most commonly used designs in competition experiments are additive, replacement series and response surface designs. Additive designs are useful for finding out economic threshold of weed control, yield loss due to particular weed density and weed species which cause maximum yield loss. Replacement series designs are more suitable for determining the better competitor biotypes and ways of crop weed interactions. Response surface designs deserve application for estimation of inter and intra specific competition and prediction of results of particular replacement series or additive designs. These designs will generate knowledge about crop weed interaction as well as planning of intercropping experiments.