Effect of weed management practices on growth and yield of kharif okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench)

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to study the response of kharif okra for different weed management practices at PG research block, College of Horticulture, (Sri Konda Laxman Telangana State Horticultural University) SKLTSHU, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad during the year 2019-20. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with twelve treatments and replicated thrice. The weed management practices have significantly influenced the growth and yield contributing characters in kharif okra. Among the different weed management practices, black polythene sheet recorded the higher values for growth parameters such as plant height, leaf area, crop dry weight, no of branches, more no of nodes on main stem, pod yield per plant (345.2 g) and total pod yield (15.20 t ha-1) when compared to other treatments. This was on par with mechanical weeding (inter row) followed by hand weeding (intra row) at 30 and 60 DAS (weed free check). The lowest values for growth and yield contributing were recorded with unweeded control plot. This study suggests that growing of okra under black polythene mulch gives higher yield.