ABSTRACT Weed competition is a major constraint to chickpea ( Cicer arietinum L.) production under low‐input agroecological systems. A two‐season field study (2021–2022 and 2022–2023) conducted at the Experimental Farm of the National School of Agriculture, Meknès, Morocco, evaluated seven treatments (T0–T6) arranged in a randomised complete block design with three replications: T0, unweeded control; T1, manual weeding; T2, wheat straw mulch; T3, sawdust mulch; T4, wheat straw + 5% fermented nettle extract ( Urtica dioica ); T5, wheat straw + 10% fermented nettle extract and T6, sawdust + 10% fermented nettle extract. Mulches were applied at the early vegetative stage, and fermented extracts were applied once as a foliar spray at the late vegetative stage to enhance crop growth and competitiveness. Weed control efficiency (WCE), based on aboveground weed biomass, indicated that T3 and T4 were the most effective treatments in the first year (92.2% and 77.9%, respectively), whereas T5 and T6 achieved 91.6% and 78.7% in the second year. Grain yield was highest under T3 (1.95 t ha −1 ) and T5 (1.82 t ha −1 ) in the first year, and under T6 (2.06 t ha −1 ) and T3 (1.61 t ha −1 ) in the second year, all significantly higher than T0. Nodule dry weight, number of seeds per plant and 100‐seed weight were also improved, likely due to reduced weed competition, improved soil microclimate resulting from mulching and enhanced nutrient availability from the fermented nettle extract. These results demonstrate that combining organic mulches with foliar bioinputs can effectively suppress weeds and increase chickpea productivity, offering a sustainable strategy for semi‐arid agroecological systems.
Zouhar et al. (2026) studied this question.