The Weed Flora of Turkish Tea Plantations

Terzioğlu S., Bozkurt A. E.

Gümüşhane Üniversitesi Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü Dergisi, cilt.10, sa.3, ss.621-630, 2020 (Hakemli Dergi)

Özet

This study was performed to find out the vascular weed taxa of tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze) plantations in Turkey and determine the critical control periods of the taxa which are negatively affect both of crop quality and yield. These taxa were determined with the studies and observations of authors both in tea plantations and local herbarium (KATO). A total of 114 native and naturalized/cultivated vascular plant taxa were found out as weeds in tea plantations. The most noxious weed, which were unintentionaly added to harvested shoots and negatively affected the tea quality, were underlined. The most commonly growing taxa in tea plantations in the region were: Pteridium aqulinum (L.) Kuhn., Smilax excelsa L., Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn. subsp. barbata (C.A. Mey.) Yalt., Crassocephalum crepidioides (Bentham) S. Moore, Calystegia silvatica (Kit.) Griseb, Commelina communis L., Microstegium vimineum (Trin.) A. Camus., Oplismenus undulatifolius (Ard.) P. Beauw. and Rubus spp. A high number of the observed weed species are ecologically tolerated taxa which are naturalized in the region. Furthermore, of these taxa 9 are climbers and 14 are woody plants. The critical periods of weed control in tea plantations were derived from both literature and our ecological/phenological observatins in tea plantations.