UTILITARIAN ASPECTS OF WEEDS OF WHEAT FIELDS IN CHARBAGH VALLEY DISTRICT SWAT PAKISTAN

Abstract

Weed survey was conducted from February to May 2016, in fields of wheat crop of Charbagh Valley, district Swat. Information on 18 families and 34 species was collected with regard to their ecological characteristics, medicinal and other economic uses by local inhabitants. The dominant families were Fabaceae and Poaceae represented by 5 species each, followed by Asteraceae with 4 species. Biological spectra expressed that therophytes were the major life form class with 31 species (91.176%) and geophytes had 3 species (8.8235%). Leaf size classification showed nanophyll with 11 species (32.35%) were the major size class followed by microphyll 10 species (29.41%), mesophylls with 6 species (17.64%), leptophyll with 5 species (14.70%) while macrophyll and megaphyll  with single species each (2.941%). Weeds were used as vegetables, medicinal and for grazing animals as fodder. The present study was aimed to screen out the ecological aspects of weed flora in wheat crops of Charbagh. The recent work is the first report on the weed ecology of Charbagh Valley.  This may help for future intensive and extensive researches on weed diversity in the area.