Segetal vegetation in Matricaria recutita (l.) crops according to protection methods and its influence on growth dynamics and inflorescence formation

Aim. After all, the quality of medicinal raw materials, and subsequently the preparations made from them, directly depend on the number of weeds present in the crop. Currently, producers of agricultural products who cultivate medicinal plants, namely medicinal chamomile, are faced with such a question as the protection of medicinal crops from harmful organisms, especially weeds, during cultivation technology. The research was aimed at establishing the dependence of the growth dynamics of medicinal chamomile plants and the productivity of inflorescences on the degree of weediness of crops by segetal plants. Methods. The weed protection system included agrotechnical, chemical and integrated methods of control. Results. It was found that the most common weeds in the chamomile agrophytocenosis were Centaurea cyanus L., Polygonum patulum, Convolvulus arvensis L., Avena fatua, Echinochloa crus-galli L., Galinsoga parviflora Cav., Chenopodium album L., Galium aparine L., Raphanus raphanistrum L., Barbarea vulgaris R.Br. It was established that the use of the autumn sowing period of chamomile contributed to more effective suppression of weeds, since a certain number of weeds die in winter at low temperatures.The average weediness after harvesting the predecessor before preparing the field for sowing medicinal chamomile was 115–123 pcs./m2. Agrotechnical protection measures reduced the number of weeds to 42–50 pcs./m2, the use of herbicide, respectively – 17–18 pcs./m2, integrated protection – 12–15 pcs./m2. Conclusion. We have established that the Perlyna Lisostepu variety has significant resistance to weeds. As for the dependence of the growth dynamics and productivity of chamomile on the implementation of weed control measures, the combination of all measures, that is the use of only an integrated method, makes it possible to best deal with harmful plants namely to reduce their number on average over the years of research to 12 pcs./m2 and obtain a yield of 1.5 t/ha of raw mass of inflorescences.