TECHNICAL BULLETIN 137

CONTROL OF OROBANCHE IN CELERY

P. G. Americanos

AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES

NICOSIA CYPRUS

SEPTEMBER 1991 ISSN 0070-2315

All responsibility for the information in this publication remains with the author(s). The use of trade names does not imply endorsement of or discrimination against any product by the Agricultural Research Institute.

2 CONTROL OF OROBANCHE IN CELERY

P. G. Americanos

SUMMARY

Celery, Apium graveolens L., growing in fields infested with Orobanche ramosa L. and/or O. aegyptiaca Pers. produced heads significantly shorter than those of non-infested plants. Applications of glyphosate at a total of 60 to 100 g.a.e./ha controlled Orobanche and allowed the celery heads to attain full size. llEPIAH'I'H

LEA.A.Lva cputE1J!.tEva OE aYQou~ 1-l0AUOI-lEVOU~ !LE to nUQaoLtLx6 1;,L1;,uvLO 0QO~YXT] naQUI-lEVOUV xovtu, xuvovta~ EtoL an6 tT]v E!Ll't0QLXi] toue; al;La. 'IfExaoIWL I-lE yxAa'LCPOOET]t XatartoAEI-lT]OaV tT]v 0QO~YXT] XL' E3tEtQE\jJav ota OEAALva va avarttux80uv xavovLxu. Ta xaAu'tEQU artO'tEAEo!LUta E&ooav Mo 'ljJEXOOI-l0L avu oExartEv8i]!LEQO otT] OOOT] twv 40 i] 50 YQ. OQUO'tLXi]~ ouoLae; oto EX'tUQLO !LE XU8E 'ljJExao!L6. INTRODUCTION aI., 1984; Mesa-Garcia and Garcia-Torres, 1985; Jacobson and Levy, 1986; Lolas, 1986; Orobanche species infest a variety of Petzoldt and Sneyd, 1986; Castejon et al., crops in Cyprus. The most widespread ap­ 1987). Most of those reports concern O. pears to be O. crenata Forsk. infesting main­ crenata Forsk. Although crop phytotoxicity ly broadbeans, Vida faba L., a crop grown from glyphosate on crops has been reported on a fairly large scale. Serious infestations (Mesa-Garcia et al., 1984; Mesa-Garcia and have been recently recorded in several crops Vazquez Cobo, 1985) celery is classified grown in autumn/winter and the area infested among the tolerant species (Jacobson and has increased rapidly. Infested crops include levy, 1986). Parker (1986) lists celery cabbage, celery, potatoes and tomatoes, among the hosts of O. ramosa and/or O. ae­ while the parasite species involved is be­ gyptiaca and the present work concerns the ­ lieved to be O. ramosa L. , or the closely re­ use of glyphosate in that crop for the control lated O. aegyptiaca Pers. or both. Since no of the parasite complex. positive identification could be made and in view of the taxonomic difficulties in separat­ MATERIALS AND METHODS ing the two species (Musselman, 1986) the present report will refer to the O. ramosa Six trials were conducted in fields known and/or O. aegyptiaca complex. to be infested with orobanche, in the period Control of orobanche has been attempted 1987 to 1990. Celery transplants were lined by various methods such as the use of trap out in August, September or October in rows crops (Krishnamurty et al., 1977), germina­ 60 cm apart and were irrigated via drippers. tion stimulants (Edwards et al., 1973; Saghir, When the plants had produced several new 1979 and 1986), selection of resistant varie­ leaves and reached a height of about 35 cm ties and chemical methods. Among the latter they were sprayed with various rates of gly­ is fumigation with methyl bromide, metham phosate, which were repeated either twice at and dazomet which directly kill seeds in the lO-day intervals or once after 15 days, Table soil, but are tedious and expensive (Ramaiah, 1. Application was made with a knapsack 1987). A more economical method was first sprayer fitted with a flat fan nozzle. Spray reported by Kasasian (1973), who applied volume was 500 lIha. Plot size was 3.5X6 m low rates of glyphosate for the control of O. and treatments, which were replicated four crenata Forsk. in broadbeans. Since then times, were arranged in a randomized com­ there have been several reports of successful plete block. Following final application of use of this chemical against orobanche glyphosate, the crop was inspected two times (Schmitt et aI., 1979; Schluter and Aber, for symptoms of toxicity. Just before the 1980; Americanos, 1983; Arjona-Berral et crop was ready for harvesting, the orobanche

3 shoots in the 12 m of the two middle rows in vented the crop from benefiting from the each plot were counted, as were also the suppression of orobanche. Although the spe­ numbers of celery plants. At harvest, five cies they report as infesting celery in their plants selected at random from the two cen­ trials were O. aegyptiaca Pers. and O. crena­ tral rows were measured for height. This was ta Forsk., it is doubtful if this played an im­ done because a prime criterion for the mar­ R0rtant role in the final results. ket value of celery is the height of the head. REFERENCES

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Americanos, P.G. 1983. Control of orobanche in broadbeans. Technical Bulletin 50. Agricultu­ Effect on orobanche ral Research Institute, Nicosia. 4 p. All treatments effectively reduced the number of orobanche shoots (Table 1). Gen­ Arjona-Berral, A., A. Vazquez-Cobo, and L. Garcia­ erally, the higher the rate of glyphosate ap­ Torres. 1984. Broomrape (Orobanche crenata Forsk.) control in lentils (Lens esculenta L.) plied the greater was the effect on the weed. and peas (Pisum sativum L.) with glyphosate The results indicate that there is no advan­ and propyzamide. Proceedings EWRS 3rd tage in splitting the glyphosate rate into three Symposium on Weed Problems in the Mediter­ applications and, therefore, two applications ranean Area. suffice. Jacobson and Levy (1986) also Castejon, M., F. Romero-Munoz, and L. Garcia­ found that two applications of glyphosate Torres. 1987. Phenology and control of Oro­ control orobanche in celery, but their rates of banche cernua in sunflower with glyphosate. application were higher. In Parasitic Flowering Plants, pp 121-126 (Eds. Chr.H. Weber, and W. Forstreuter). Mar­ Table I. Effect of glyphosate on Orobanche ramosa burg, ER.G. and/or O. aegyptiaca and on the height of celery heads. Edwards, W.G., R.W.P. Hiron, and A.I. Mallet. 1973. Some studies on Orobanche crenata seed. In No. of Height of 4e Colloque International sur I'Ecologie et la No of orobanche celery Biologie de Mauvaises Herbes. pp 147-158. applica­ stems per head* Marseille, France. Treatment tions celery* (cm) Jacobson, R., and D. Levy. 1986. Glyphosate for Oro- _ Glyphosate banche control in various crops; problems and . 20 g.a.e. 3 1.2 b 76.2b promises. In Biology and control of ORO­ 30.g.a.e. 3 0.7b 76.5b BANCHE. Proceedings ofa workshop. pp 172­ 30 g.a.e. 2 LOb 76.0b 175 (Ed. SJ. ter Borg). Wageningen, The 40 g.a.e. 2 0.5 be 77.5 ab Netherlands. 50 g.a.e. 2 O.Oc 80.0 a Control 5.2a 48.2c Kasasian, L. 1973. Control of Orobanche. PANS 19: 368-371. *Means of six trials. Krishnamurty, G.V.G., R. Lal. and K. Nagarajan. 1977. Further studies on the effect of various Effect on the crop crops on the germination of Orobanche seed. There were no visual symptoms of toxici­ PANS 23: 206-208. ty on the celery that could be ascribed to treatment. Control of orobanche allowed cel­ Lolas, P.C. 1986. Control of Broomrape (Orobanche ery heads to attain full size and thus maxi­ ramosa) .in Tobacco (Nicotiana tabaccum). mum market value. Infestation with oro­ Weed Science 34:427-430. banche reduced significantly the deve­ Mesa-Garcia, J., and L. Garcia-Torres. 1985. Oro­ lopment of the crop. This is at variance with banche crenata (Forsk) control in Vida faba the results of Jacobson and Levy (1986) who (L.) with glyphosate as affected by herbicide reported that although there was a considera­ rates and parasite growth stages. Weed Re­ ble number of broomrape plants in the un­ search 25:129-134. treated plots, it did not affect the crop. They Mesa-Garcia, J., and A. Vazquez Cobo. 1985. Proble­ used plant weight as a criterion and it is pos­ matica del uso del glifosato en habas (Vicia sible that the much higher rates of glypho­ faba L.) para el control de jopo (Orabanche sate which they applied (200-300 g.a.e./ha) crenata Forsk.). Informacion Technica Eco­ may have caused hidden toxicity, which pre­ nomica Agraria 61:52-56.

4 Mesa-Garcia, J., A. de Haro, and L. Garcia-Torres. Ramaiah, K.V. 1987. Control of Striga and Oro­ 1984. Phyto-toxocity and yield response of banche species - A Review. In Parasitic broad bean (Vicia faba) to glyphosate. Weed Flowering Plants, pp 637-664 (Eds. Chr.H. Science 32:445-450. Weber, and W. Forstreuter). Marburg, ER.G.

Musselman, LJ. 1986. Taxonomy of Orobanche. In Saghir, A.R. 1979. Strigol analogues and their poten­ Biology and control of OROBANCHE. Pro­ tial for orobanche control. Proceedings of the ceedings of a workshop, pp 2-10 (Ed. SJ. ter Second International Symposium on Parasitic Borg). Wageningen, The Netherlands. Weeds, pp 238-244. North Carolina, USA.

Parker, C. 1986. Scope of the agronomic problems Saghir, A.R. 1986. Dormancy and germination of Oro­ caused by Orobanche species. In Biology and banche seeds in relatIon to control methods. In control of OROBANCHE. Proceedings of a Biology and control of OROBANCHE. Pro­ workshop, pp 11-17 (Ed. SJ. ter Borg). Wa­ ceedings ofa workshop, pp 25-34 (Ed. SJ. ter geningen, The Netherlands. Borg). Wageningen, The Netherlands. Schluter, K., and M. Aber. 1980. Chemical control of Petzoldt, K., and J. Sneyd. 1986. Orobanche cumana Orobanche crenata in field beans in Morocco. control by breeding and glyphosate treatment Weed Abstracts 30, 1333 (Abstract). in sunflowers. In Biology and control ofORO­ BANCHE. Proceedings ofa workshop, pp 166­ Schmitt, U., K. Schluter, and P.A. Boorsma. 1979. 171 (Ed. SJ. ter Borg). Wageningen, The Chemical control of Orobanche crenata in Netherlands. broadbeans. FAO Plant Protection Bulletin 27: 88-91.

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