Impact of some herbicides on the growth and the yield of common vetch (Vicia sativa L.).

The production and use of common vetch has great potential, but the lack of approved pesticides makes the success of cultivation difficult and unpredictable. The research was carried out on sandy soil at the Nyíregyháza Research Institute of the University of Debrecen in Hungary in April 2022. Five different herbicides, pendimethalin, metolachlor, flumioxazin, bentazon in doses 5 L ha-1, 1.4 L ha-1, 0.06 kg ha-1, 2 L ha-1, respectively, and imazamox in four different doses (0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2 L ha-1) were applied with the consideration of the ranges specified in the Hungarian legislation. The results showed that the highest NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) values were obtained with flumioxazin compared to the other treatments. The maximum harvested seed yield (194.1 kg ha-1) was obtained with the application of flumioxazin compared to the control treatment (132.5 kg ha-1). Flumioxazin was also the best as it had the fewest weeds per plot and the lowest phytotoxicity score. Although pendimethalin approached the cleaned and harvested average seed yield of the control plots with 121.3 kg ha-1, it did not feature prominently in the other indicators. With regard to plant trash after cleaning of vetch seed, the highest plant trash (179.4 kg ha-1) was obtained with bentazon. Pendimethalin had the highest percentage ratio between seed yield ha-1 and plant trash ha-1 (61.8%), followed by flumioxazin (60.7%). The results also showed that there was a positive correlation between NDVI values and seed yield and a positive correlation between NDVI values and plant trash, while there was a negative correlation at the 0.01 level between NDVI values and phytotoxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]