EFFECT OF DIFFERENT CHEMICAL TREATMENTS ON GERMINATION AND VIABILITY OF DURUM WHEAT SEEDS HARVESTED AND STORED FOR 6 MONTHS

The presence of weeds in a wheat field can be detrimental in several ways. Competition for water, minerals and light directly affects the growth of the crop and its subsequent yield. In addition, heavy weed infestations interfere with ploughing and harvesting tools and make successful ploughing and harvesting problematic. Mixing of weed seeds with cereal grains depreciates the commercial quality of the harvested product, so the use of weed control is an excellent management strategy to not only control perennial or annual weeds, but also to facilitate harvest management and prepare the ground for the next year's crop. In our study we tried to see if there was an effect of the treatments used, namely paraquat, diquat, and glyphosate on the germination and viability of harvested grains that were stored in the laboratory for 6 months at room temperature and humidity (between 10 and 39°c and 48 to 83%). The results we found show that there is no significant effect on the germination power and viability of these seeds.