| dc.description.abstract | Two addition scries experiments were conducted at the Oregon State University's Hysiop Crop Science Field Laboratory (44° 37'N, 123° 13'W) near Corvallis, Oregon, USA, to investigate the dynamics in morphology and growth of winter wheat and Italian ryegrass during their life cycles. Experiment 1 was conducted during 1988-89 with six densities of each species and experiment 2 during 1989-90 with four densities of each species. Plants were destructively sampled from 100 plants/m2 wheat monoculture, 100 plants/m2 ryegrass monoculture, and 100 + 100 mixture of these species. Ryegrass plants were shorter than wheat plants up to 170 DAE. Whereafter Ryegrass plants became about 60 cm taller than wheat during reproductive stages during both the seasons. Wheat had more number of leaves, tiller, and leaf area per plant than ryegrass during vegetative stages but ryegrass had more number of leaves, tiller, and leaf area per plant during the reproductive stages. Ryegrass aborted fewer leaves and tillers per plant than wheat during their life cycles. The relative growth rate of ryegrass was also greater than wheat during reproductive stages. Results demonstrate that wheat was more competitive than ryegrass during vegetative stages but ryegrass became more competitive than wheat during reproductive stages. So, in predicting the competition of these two species, the shift in their competitive ability should be accounted for. | en_US |
