Evaluación de la riqueza/abundancia y el banco de semillas de las arvenses presentes en el cultivo de tomate de árbol en la granja “El Romeral” de la Universidad de Cuenca

Abstract

Nowadays, tree tomato or Solanum betaceum Cav represents an important economic crop for farmers because of its nutritional properties. However, it has been presenting issues related to yields for multiple causes from which the presence of illness decreases the production. The recent investigation has the objective of evaluating the density and species diversity of weed and the weed soil seed bank in tree tomato orchard. To achieve this objective, soil samples were collected from the farm "El Romeral" in two tree tomato fruit orchards. The seeds were recovered by the sifting and washing method and the species were identified by the germination of seedlings. A total of 756 seeds were identified, of which 277 germinated belonging to 9 specific species, corresponding to 9 families. The richness of species and individuals was represented by the Asteraceae family, Fabaceae, Amaranthaceae and Poaceae. A greater number of individuals was found in the first five centimeters of depth and the species that participated with the highest number of individuals were: Amaranthus spp., Trifolium repens and Bidens pilosa. The greatest floristic diversity was present in the shallower depth ranges of the soil