Influence of weed management strategies on nutrient uptake and soil properties in fodder maize cultivation

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the Research Farm, AICRP on Forage Crops, Department of Agronomy, JNKVV, Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) in 2019 to investigate the impact of various weed control methods on the concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in maize biomass. The experiment utilized a randomized block design with three replications and ten treatments. These treatments included pre-emergence applications of atrazine at 1000 g/ha, pendimethalin at 750 g/ha, and a combination of atrazine at 750 g/ha with pendimethalin at 750 g/ha, as well as post-emergence applications of 2,4-D at 500 g/ha, tembotrione at 120 g/ha, and topramezone at 35 g/ha. Additionally, tembotrione at 120 g/ha with atrazine at 250 g/ha and topramezone at 35 g/ha with atrazine at 250 g/ha were tested, along with hand weeding twice at 20 and 40 DAS and a weedy check. The results showed that hand weeding at 20 and 40 DAS resulted in the highest uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium by the crop, with values of 87.55 kg/ha, 55.59 kg/ha, and 127.85 kg/ha, respectively. This performance was comparable to the treatment of topramezone at 35 g/ha with atrazine at 250 g/ha, which recorded values of 83.22 kg/ha, 45.02 kg/ha, and 113.24 kg/ha for nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium uptake, respectively, and tembotrione at 120 g/ha with atrazine at 250 g/ha, which recorded values of 78.81 kg/ha, 41.41 kg/ha, and 105.52 kg/ha for nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium uptake, respectively.