Introduction: Wheat (Triticum aestivum L. ) is the prominent cereal food grain and major staple food in Iran. However, weed infestation is a major bottleneck to higher wheat productivity, and accounts for more than 48% loss of potential wheat yield. Weeds are omnipresent pests that compete with crops for water, nutrients, space, and light; host pests and diseases; and release allelochemicals into the rhizosphere. The magnitude of weed-related losses, however, depends on the type and density of a particular weed species, its time of emergence, and the duration of interference. Yield losses are most severe when resources are limited and weeds and crops emerge simultaneously. Crop yields decrease with increasing weed competition. A strong relationship exists between the duration of competition and the competition pressure exerted on the crop, which reduces yield. Stale SEEDBEDs are a long-established practice that can be used with supplemental herbicides in conventional systems or without them in organic systems. The aim of the study was assessing the effect of various SEEDBED and wheat density on weed control, and growth and yield of wheat. Materials and Methods: The experiment was conducted in a split plot arrangement based on randomized complete block design with three replications. The SEEDBED (false, stale and conventional SEEDBED) were assigned to main plots and wheat density (150, 200 and 250 kg seed ha-1) were randomized in subplot. The spacing between the planting rows was 20 cm. The required fertilizers were applied based on the results of soil analysis and by phosphate di-ammonium (150 kg ha-1) and urea (250 kg ha-1). Also, other planting operations such as irrigation were applied uniformly to all treatments. Weed control was not carried out in growth stages. Results and Discussion: The results showed that dry weight and density of weed, plant height, number of tiller, 1000-seed weight, grain yield and seed protein contents were affected by interaction of SEEDBED and plant density. Simple effect of SEEDBED and plant density had a significant effect on number of spike and lodging percentage of wheat. Using false and stale SEEDBEDs led to reducing weed density and dry weight, and increasing number of tiller, number of spike, biological and grain yield and protein contents rather than conventional planting conditions, significantly. Increasing plant density had a positive effect on weed control. It seems that increasing wheat density increased the competitiveness of plant species by decreasing access to enough light and nutrients, and led to eliminating the weeds. The highest grain yield (6. 95 t ha-1) was assigned to stale SEEDBED and density of 150 kg seed ha-1. Grain yield in densities of 150 and 250 kg seed ha-1 was higher than density of 250 kg seed ha-1. Conclusions: In general, application of false and stale SEEDBEDs with planting 150-200 kg seed ha-1 is recommended.

Introduction: Scrophularia striata is an originally Iranian wild perennial plant. This plant has many medicinal properties including treatment of some diseases like cold, digestive disorders, inflammation and infection. Although S. striata has been reported from various regions of the country with different climatic conditions, however there is no information about phenological growth, suitable time and SEEDBED of S. striata. There are variety of environmental factors that affect phenology growth. Among them temperature is considered as the most effective one. To generalize prediction of phenological growth in different locations, standard measurement is required. Growth degree day (GDD) or thermal time can be a consistent predictor of phenology development in contrasting climates. Determining required thermal time for plant phenological development would provide information for decision making on the time of management practices including planting date, timely irrigation and efficient pest and weed management. To the best of our knowledge there is no information about plant establishment, growth and phenological stages of S. striata. Because of its high demands for medicinal products, information about the S. striata cultivation is necessary. Therefore the objective of this study was to determining the effect of planting time and SEEDBED on phenological growth. Materials and Methods: Field experiment was conducted in experimental farm of agricultural and natural resources college, university of Tehran, Karaj during 2016-2017. Seeds were preconditioned at temperature of 3º c for one week to break dormancy. For seedling establishment, seeds were transferred to the greenhouse and cultivated in three different SEEDBEDs. Seedlings were transferred to the farm at stages of four to six leaves. The experiment was a split plot with three replications. Planting dates comprised Early June (D1), September (D2), October (D3) and November (D4) of 2016 and Early March (D5) of 2017 were the main plots and seed beds of peat moss, peat moss+ perlite (1: 1) and coco peat+ peat moss+ perlite (2: 1: 1) were the sub plots. Growth Degree Days (GDD) for phenological stages of S. striata including first and second node, flowering, capsule formation, seed formation and maturity were calculated. Data were subjected to ANOVA using SAS 9. 1, and standard error of means was calculated. Results and Discussion: Results showed significant main effects and interactions between seed bed and planting date at 1% probability level on phenological growth of S. striata. Peat moss seed bed with June planting had lowest GDD to first node (39. 5 GDD), second node (50. 1 GDD), flowering (307. 4 GDD), capsule formation (610. 8 GDD), seed formation (697. 8 GDD) and maturity (1242. 0 GDD). With delay in planting time to September, October and November, GDD requirements for phenological growth increased. Between our planting dates, June planting time was the most suitable time for planting. Changes in temperature, day light and precipitation are significant in successful plant establishment and growth. Our results showed that there is a critical time for planting S. striata in farm. Very early planting like March planting time was not good and plants did not enter the reproductive stage. Plants of June planting time were entered flowering stage on April 15 in the next year. With delay in planting time to November, plants entered flowering stage on May 10 in the next year. High organic matters percentage and capacity of cation exchange provides increasing potential for water absorption and keeping nourishing elements and water for a longer time. This causes improved conditions for root growth. In addition, vermicompost and peat moss includes regulator hormones such as humic acid that benefits early growth of plant. Conclusions: To conclude, 1) peat moss was recognized as a successful bed for initial growing of S. striata. To the best of our knowledge, no practical recommendation was formerly provided on the subject. 2) June planting time was determine as the best time for plant establishment that led to acceleration in flowering time and more seed production.

Hordeum spontaneum C. Koch. is known as a significant factor in decreasing wheat yield. Its control by stale SEEDBED is a step toward achieving sustainable agriculture in wheat. For this purpose, field experiments were performed during 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 in the experimental fields of the Iranian Institute of Plant Protection, Varamin, Iran. In order to contaminate the field with the weed, wheat was planted in association with H. spontaneum, during the first year. After harvesting wheat in the summer, an experiment was conducted with 9 treatments. Treatments included: 1) field plowing after wheat harvesting and corn (Cultivar SC704) planting, irrigating weekly up to corn harvesting, 2) field plowing no corn cultivation, but irriatted up to corn harvesting in treatment 1. Treatments 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 were not plowed but irrigated only once, each at an indicated date (July 4th, July 19th, August 1st, August 18th, September 10th, September 23th, and October 8th). Results revealed that stale SEEDBED from the middle of August favored H. spontaneum emergence. Thus its density reduced in wheat up to two thirds and wheat grain yield increased two times. Field plowing after wheat harvesting increased H. spontaneum burial depth and reduced its density in corn and wheat.

Field experiment was conducted to study the effect of nitrogen and plant density on weed population in corn under stale SEEDBED planting system. This study was done in the farm of Agriculture College of Tehran University in 2010.The experiment was done in complete block design with three replications. Main plot consisted of stale SEEDBED and conventional SEEDBED preparation. Subplots consisted of four levels of nitrogen fertilizer (0, 270, 325 and 380 kg ha-1) × 3 corn densities (7, 8 and 9 plants m-2). Results showed conventional SEEDBED had the highest biomass of weeds at 7 plants m-2 and 325 kg N ha-1. At this treatment, stale SEEDBED could decrease the weed biomass by more than 96.6%. In general, stale SEEDBED resulted in higher values of corn growth characteristics i.e. plant biomass, height, leaf area index. Using stale SEEDBED, the treatment of 380 N kg ha-1+9 corn plants m-2 had the highest corn biomass and grain yield. In general, stale SEEDBED system in corn production can be as a useful tool to better manage the weeds, improve corn growth.

Application of living mulch and stale SEEDBED has been proposed for weed management in crop production. Field experiment was carried out at the Research Farm of university of Zanjan in 2013 as split block based on randomized complete block design to assess integration of living mulch and stale SEEDBED for weed management in maize. The main plot was stale SEEDBED preparation (6 April, 3 May, and 24 May), and sub plot three different living mulch included Vicia villosa, Trifolium alexandrinum, and Lathyrus sativus. Cover crops were planted in the space between two rows at the recommended densities. Weed free and weed infestation, were also included. The results showed that 100-seed weight, biomass and seed yield of maize significantly affected by the time of stale SEEDBED preparation. However, this treatment had no effect on traits such as plant height, ear diameter, seed row number per ear and weed biomass. The highest maize grain yield (8.7 t.ha-1) was obtained when SEEDBED prepared on 6 April. Living mulch had significant effects on maize and weed growth. The highest maize grain yield was obtained in weed free plots. The lower weed biomass was produced when T. alexandrinum was used as a cover crop. The interaction of the stale seed bed and living mulch was not significant. These results suggest that living mulch or stale SEEDBED alone or in combination could not provide reliable weed control in maize; therefore, these methods should be integrated with other efficient weed control measures.

Introduction: Phaseolus vulgaris L., known as the common bean and green bean among other names, is a herbaceous annual plant grown worldwide for its edible dry seeds or unripe fruit. Weeds are one of the most important factors in reducing the yield of common bean. Since tillage promotes germination of many weed species, tillage followed by destruction of weed seedlings with minimal further soil disturbance often leads to lower weed density in the crop. This is referred to as the stale SEEDBED method of planting. In false SEEDBED technique, preparation of a SEEDBED is followed by one or more superficial cultivations as about one-week intervals prior to planting the crop. Although these procedures are widely used by farmer, they have received little scientific study. This experiment was conducted to investigate the combined method of using seed bean bed preparation with application of herbicides such as EPTC, linuron, and trifluralin, in order to bean weeds control in Aleshtar region. Materials and Methods: In order to investigate the effect of SEEDBED preparing methods and soil applied herbicides in weed management and yield of common bean, an experiment was carried out as factorial in a randomized complete block design with four replications in 2015-2016 growing season in Hatam Abad village, Selseleh, Aleshtar, Lorestan, Iran. Experimental factors included SEEDBED at two levels (fasle SEEDBED and stale SEEDBED) and soil applied herbicides at three levels (EPTC (3 L ha-1), linuron (1. 5 L ha-1), and trifluralin (1. 5 L ha-1)). Two treatments including weed infested (as control) and weed free (as treatment), are also considered. Each plot was divided into two parts, one infested with weed (as contaminated control) and the other treated with herbicide. The percent reduction of weed density and dry weight were calculated at 30 and 60 days after spraying. The studied traits were plant height, number of pods per plant, number of branches per plant, length of pod per plant and number of seeds per pod, economic and biological yield and harvest index. The SAS9. 2 software was used to analyze the data. Results and Discussion: The results showed that weed dry weight reduction (79. 09% and 78. 57%) was greatest in stale SEEDBED plus EPTC and trifluralin at 30 days after herbicide application (DAHA), respectively. While, the lowest reduction in weed dry weight (28. 27% and 35. 41%) was observed in stale and false SEEDBED with linuron application. Weed dry weight reduction at 60 DAHA in false SEEDBED (76. 58%) was lesser than stale SEEDBED (84. 34%). The highest and lowest weed density and dry weight reduction percentages (90. 38% and 89. 69%) and (64. 48% and 64. 48%)) were obtained trifluralin and linuran, respectively. The highest percentage of increase in number of pods per plant belonged to weed free (52. 01%), followed by linuron (42. 5%), EPTC (40. 43%) and trifluralin (34. 34%). The highest percentage of increase in the number of seeds per pod belonged to weed free (36. 14%) and then EPTC (29. 54%), linuron (28. 06%), and trifluralin (28. 06%). Regarding grain yield, the highest percentages were weed free (52. 92%), EPTC (44. 11%), linuron (31. 13%) and trifluralin (30. 30%), respectively. The highest percentage of biological yield increase belonged to weed free (32. 46%), linuron (25. 5%), EPTC (20. 81%), and trifluralin (17. 83%), respectively. The highest percentage of harvest index belonged to weed free (34. 33%), followed by linuron (21. 37%), EPTC (19. 55%), and Trifluralin (18. 23%). Conclusion: The result of present study showed that trifluralin could control weed more than EPTC and linuron. The weed dry weight reduction percentage in the stale SEEDBED was also higher than that of the false SEEDBED. In all treatment, the percentage of yield increase of weed free was higher than the other treatments. Except for grain yield, which showed a significant difference in herbicide treatments, other treatments did not differ significantly. Totally, the false SEEDBED technique has several limitations. First it can only be effective if the soil is warm and moist enough to allow germination of weed seeds. A second limitation is that the soil is kept bare and loose for a more period, and this may lead to more erosion. A third limitation is that yield may be lost if planting is delayed by the pre-plant cultivation. A fourth problem is that although cultivation prior to planting may greatly reduce one set of species, if planting is delayed, a new set of species may become physiologically ready to germinate.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of tillage methods to obtain suitable SEEDBED for monogerm seed. Therefore, a split plot experiment based on a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicatians was conducted at Darab station of Fars province. The main plot was SEEDBED prepration at two levels including fall and spring season. Subplot included 1) Moldboard plow at depth of 30-35 cm + Disk; 2) Moldboard plow at depth of 30-35 cm+Rototiller; 3) Chisel plow at depth of 30-35 cm+Disk; 4) Chisel plow at depth of 30-35 cm+Rototiller; 5) Subsoiler at depth of 30-35 cm + Moldboard plow at depth of 25-30 cm+Disk; 6) Subsoiler at depth 30-35 cm+Moldboard plow at depth of 25-30 cm+Rototiller. Parameters such as soil bulk density, soil cone index, percentage of germination, germination rate index, and yield and quality were measured. The results indicated that the effect of using tillage implement in fall season on bulk density and cone index was significantly different from that of spring season. Percentage of germination, germination rate index and yield increased by using the tillage implements in fall compared with spring season. Results indicated that three factors including application time, tillage implements and depth can be effective on the measured parameters. Moldboard plow at depth of 30-35 cm in fall season along with rototiller produced higher percentage of germination (94.42%), germination rate index(4.93%), purity (82.68%), root yield (81.81 tha-1) and while sugar beet.

To evaluate the effects of different SEEDBED preparation methods on soil physical properties and some morphological, qualitative and quantitative characteristics of sugar beet, an experiment was performed in Motahari Research Station of Sugar Beet Seed Institute in Karaj and Ekbatan Station of Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center in Hamedan during two cropping seasons (2007-2009) using a randomized complete block design with four replications. The experiment consisted of seven different SEEDBED preparation methods operated in autumn or in spring. At harvest time, the number and weight of roots, length of crown, storage roots and roots on soil surface were measured. Quality characteristics such as percentage of sugar and inpurities of roots were determined in laboratory. The results showed that different treatments of SEEDBED preparation in terms of bulk density and soil hardiness did not have any significant difference. Soil bulk density values increased during the growth period and also with dept from 0 to 60 cm of soil. At different growth stages with soil depth increasing, hardiness with the different processes increased and values had faster trends in the mid-season than in early season. The highest white sugar yield was 10.23 tha-1 in the treatment of autumn operation including deep ploughing, disk, leveler and cultivator tiller blade, and spring operation including disk and drive of seed rows with stacker.

To investigate the effect of different tillage systems in early seeding of sugar beet, a field experiment was conducted under two climatic conditions: Karaj, Motthari field station, in three years (2012-2013, 2013-2014 and 2014-2015) and Mian-do-Ab, Iran in two years (2012-2013 and 2013-2014). Nine SEEDBED preparation methods were examined including: two methods for fully preparing the SEEDBED in the fall (without and along with barley seeding), three methods for dormant seeding (along with barley seeding, without barley seeding and without barley seeding along with creating furrows after thinning in spring), two methods of preparing of seed bed in two season: fall and spring (without and using combined tillage), a minimum plowing method and a method for fully preparing of seed bed in the spring using randomized complete block design. Soil texture and organic matter content were also determined in each treatment in advance. The results showed that regarding to climate change, the dormant seeding in Karaj and Mian-do-ab would be at high risk. In Karaj conditions, one of the treatments of the SEEDBED preparation in two stages, including: deep Moldboard plowing in fall+ combined tillage in the spring, due to its desirable quantitative and quality characteristics of root during three years of experiment (in average 66 and 12 t. ha-1 root and sugar yield, respectively), was dtermined as a superior treatment. Where the planting is done on falt SEEDBED, other deep moldboard plowing, disc, leveler and chisel plow in the autumn + disk in the spring (in average 67 and 11 t. ha-1 root and sugar yield, respectively) can be used. In Mian-do-Ab conditions, SEEDBED preparation in autumn including; deep moldboard plowing, disk, leveler and disk in autumn (in average 9 and 57 t. ha-1 root and sugar yield, respectively) was identified as superior treatment. Using this method, in addition to the possibility of optimal SEEDBED preparation, it would be possible to practice early seeding.