MAJOR WEEDS FLORA OF THE TERRESTRIAL FORESTS ORCHARDS IN BANGLADESH

Weeds are the main problems in the planted forest orchards of Bangladesh. Weeds are fast-growing and their viability and survival capacity are higher than planted trees species. Weeds uptake nutrients from the soil and cover the canopy of the planted trees. Weeds are uprooted from the forests orchards for protection of planted trees. The main aim of the study was to determine the weed flora of forests orchards in Bangladesh. The study was conducted through field data collection and laboratory investigation. Data were collected from only planted forests orchards in the pre-monsoon, monsoon and late monsoon period. The random quadrat method was followed for sampling and in this respect, 2m × 2m sized quadrats were applied. A total of 169 weed species belonging to 60 families were recorded as terrestrial flora from forests areas of Bangladesh. A total of 8 families were monocotyledons (13.33%) and 52 families were dicotyledons (86.67%). Among the plant families, Acanthaceae shared the maximum (7.69%) followed by Fabaceae (7.10%), Asteraceae (5.92%), Euphorbiaceae (5.33%), Caesalpiniaceae (4.14%), Vitaceae (3.55%) and other families contributed less than 3%. The study focused that all kinds of weeds are the major obstacle in the growth of the artificial or natural forests trees species. The findings of the present study will be contributed to the protection and sustainable management of planted forests orchards in the whole of Bangladesh.