Background:

Research on weeds in rainfed maize crops in the state of Aguascalientes is scarce.

Questions:

What weed species are found in rainfed maize crops by biogeographic province? How are they controlled and managed?

Study site and periods:

One site in each of the three biogeographic provinces of the state of Aguascalientes: Sierra Madre Occidental (SMO), Altiplano Sur (AS) and Pacific Coast (CP), 2020 and 2021.

Methods:

Thirty semi-structured interviews were applied to describe the control and management of weeds. Forty-eight floristic inventories were carried out and the same number of sampling sites to obtain the richness and Shannon-Whiener and Simpson diversity indexes. Floristic similarity was evaluated with the Jaccard Index (I j).

Results:

Weed control is carried out mainly with tractor, animals and to a lesser extent herbicide. A total of 128 species were identified, 21 of which were introduced. SMO reported higher richness and diversity. There were not significant differences in average richness between the three provinces (P > 0.05) but there is a significant difference in diversity (H’) between SMO with AS and CP as well as (D Si) between CP and SMO (P < 0.05). Floristic similarity was less than 50 %.

Conclusions:

There is a great richness of weeds in rainfed maize crops. The floristic composition is differentiated by biogeographic province in the state of Aguascalientes. This work increases records and knowledge of weeds at local and national level.