Weed Vegetation around Red Dragon Fruit Plants: Hylocereus polyrhizus

Faculty of Biology, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia

Abstract: Increasing red dragon fruit productivity faces management weed problem. This study aims to investigate the structure and composition of weeds around dragon fruit plants, the presence of each growth form and dominant weed species, the similarity index between weeds of dragon fruit plants and other crops, and the physicochemical conditions at Sabila Farm in Yogyakarta. The total farm area of each crop was divided into 50 square-shaped areas using a gridline, so all of the areas have the same size. The size of these areas was adjusted in accordance with the total area of the studied plants. Subsequently, a 1m x 1m plot was put in each of 15 areas chosen randomly from the 50 areas. The structure and composition of weed vegetation in the dragon fruit farm responded to soil condition, rooting systems and psychochemical condition of dragon fruit plants. The formation of the structure and composition of the weed vegetation could be attributed to a possible reciprocal relation from the interaction patterns between the weeds and the dragon fruit plants. Red dragon fruit’s weed vegetation was specific and was influenced by interaction patterns that could be formed between the weed communities and the fruit crops.