SPECIES COMPOSITION OF WEED VEGETATION IN DIFFERENT APPLE GROWING TECHNOLOGIES

The investigation was carried out in the period 2001-2003 in an orchard of the Institute of Agriculture, Kyustendil, Bulgaria, created in the spring of 1996 on leached cinnamonic forest soil. The weed populations under four different farming technologies of growing of apple cultivar Florina were investigated. It was established, that the apple growing technologies influence the weed association composition. The highest weed diversity was found in the organic technology - 16 weed species were found. In the application of resource economical and integrated technologies, the development of 13-14 weed species was established. The smallest weed diversity was observed in the conventional technology - eight species, which was due to the twofold herbicide application.