Evaluation of the Efficacy of Selected Herbicides on Wild Barley (Hordeum glaucum L.) from Different Iraqi Environments

• 1*Ameer Hamzah Obaid, 2Hameed A.K. Alfarttoosi, and 3Ali Nadhim Farhood.

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The experiment was conducted in a field plot at Al-Muradiyah Research Station, Babylon Agriculture Directorate, during the winter season of 2024–2025 to evaluate the effects of chemical herbicides on wild barley grass (Hordeum glaucum L.) at different growth stages under single infestation conditions. The study was arranged in a split-plot design In randomized complete block design RCBD with three replicates, in which four post-emergence herbicides (Axial, Tarzec, Topic, and Chevalier) were assigned to the main plots, while seed sources of wild barley grass collected from five governorates of Iraq were allocated to the subplots. The treatments were evaluated based on several growth and physiological characteristics of the weed, including plant height, weed density, dry weight, chlorophyll content, control percentage, and inhibition percentage.

The results indicated significant variation in weed response depending on herbicides and seed source. Tarzec exhibited the highest efficacy, achieving a mean control percentage of 75.68% and an inhibition rate of 48.49% at 90 days after treatment. Conversely, Axial was the least effective, with a control percentage of only 39.20%. Furthermore, seed sources showed distinct sensitivity levels; the population from Wasit demonstrated the highest resistance with a control percentage of only 65.43% under Tarzec treatment at 90 days, while the Najaf population was the most sensitive, reaching 82.57%. These findings emphasize that selecting an appropriate herbicide based on seed origin is crucial for the chemical management of bulbous barley.

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