Studies on post-emergence herbicides in Rabi onion (Allium cepa L.)

Abstract

Onion is a slow growing crop, shallow rooted, narrow, upright leaves and non-branching habit. Due to this type of growing habit, onion crop cannot compete well with weeds. A field experiment was conducted at Research farm, Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, Parbhani. The soil was vertisol, low in nitrogen, medium in phosphorus and alkaline in reaction. The experiment was laid out in Randomized block design with three replications and eight treatments including hand weeding, weed free and weedy check. Weed free treatment recorded significantly lowest number of monocot weed count (m-2), dry weight of weeds and the highest weed control efficiency. Among the herbicidal treatments, application of Haloxyfop 10.8% EC @ 108 g a.i. ha-1 at 15 DAT (T2) recorded significantly least number of weed count and dry weight of weeds it was at par with the application of Haloxyfop 10.8% EC @ 135 g a.i. ha-1 at 15 DAT (T3) and Haloxyfop 10.8% EC @ 270 g a.i. ha-1 at 15 DAT (T4). Gross monetary returns, net monetary returns and B:C ratio was recorded significantly higher with the application of Haloxyfop 10.8% EC @ 108 g a.i. ha-1 at 15 DAT (T2).