Distribution of Weed Population in the Paddy Field in Korea, 1981

Nationwide survey of weed population in paddy rice field was conducted from 1760 fields all around Republic of Korea in 1981. The weed species observed include 2 species of grasses, 7 species of sedges, and 18 species of broadleaf weeds, and the dominant weed species were Monochoria vaginalis, Sagitraria trifolia, Potamogeton distinstus, Sagittaria pygmea and Cyperus serotinus. More and many weeds were growing in single cropped field than double cropped field. In single cropped fields, weed population was reduced when autumn plowing was conducted. In double cropped fields, more weeds were growing in barley or wheat grown fields than vegetable gown fields. Among the five paddy soil types, more weeds were growing in saline soils and poorly drained soils than others. The proportion of annual and perennial weeds in national average was 44% and 56%, and perennials became more dominant in central part of the peninsula. Autumn plowing and double cropping appeared to reduce the perennial weed population, however, the increased perennial weed population, presumably due to continuous use of herbicides which controls mostly annuals, seemed to an urgent problem to be solved.