Performance of onion under pre & post-emergence application of herbicides and hand weeding for weed management

Abstract

The present study entitled “Performance of onion (Allium cepa L.)” variety (N-53) under pre-emergence and post-emergence application of herbicides for weed management was carried out at CSKHPKV, Hill Agri. Research and Extension centre, Dhaulakuan (Sirmour), during Rabi season 2013-14 with the objectives to find out the efficacy of Pre & Post treatments on the growth, yield and yield attributing characters. In this study, 9 treatments viz., Oxyfluorfen @ (0.10 kg ha-1) fb one hand weeding (60 DAT), Oxyfluorfen @ 0.20 kg ha-1, Oxyfluorfen @ 0.30 kg ha-1, Pendimethalin @ 1.5 kg ha-1, two hand weeding (40 and 60 DAT), farmer practice (three hand weeding at 30, 60, 90 DAT), weed free and weedy check were compared in a Randomized Block Design (RBD) having three replications with a plot size of 3.0 m х 2.0 m and a plant spacing of 20 cm х 10 cm. All the treatments were found significant for different characters. Maximum value for plant height, average weight of bulb (80 g), diameter of bulb (6.34 cm), plant population (276.33) and bulb yield (272.22 q ha-1) were recorded with weed free treatment followed by Oxyfluorfen @ 0.30 kg ha-1 among all herbicidal treatments. Hence, among herbicidal application Oxyfluorfen @ 0.30 kg ha-1 was found most effective for most of the character studied.