Herbicidal weed management and nitrogen nutrition impact on growth parameters of Indian mustard [Brassica juncea]

Abstract

A field experiment carried out during the rabi, 2014-2015 in Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Udaipur in factorial randomized block design with three replications and 15 treatment combinations to study the effect of weed management and nitrogen application on growth parameters of Indian mustard. The treatment combinations consisted of 5 weed management practices and 3 nitrogen levels. The results show that pre-emergence application of oxadiargyl 0.09 kg ha-1 recorded the highest dry matter accumulation (6.03, 28.93, 38.99 and 56.24 g plant-1 at 30, 60, 90 DAS and at harvest, respectively), leaf area index (2.47, 4.43 and 3.80 at 30, 60 and 90 DAS, respectively), primary and secondary branches plant-1 (6.17 and 17.30, respectively) compared to other herbicide treatments and weedy check but was comparable to hand weeding at 25 DAS. Among three different N levels, the highest dry matter accumulation (5.93, 30.62, 41.81 and 58.14 g plant-1 at 30, 60, 90 DAS and at harvest, respectively), leaf area index (2.55, 4.25 and 3.72 at 30, 60 and 90 DAS, respectively), primary and secondary branches plant-1 (6.21 and 16.54, respectively) were recorded due to application of 75 kg N ha-1.