Bio-efficacy of herbicides on weed growth, yield and economics of kharif sorghum

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at College Agronomy Farm, B. A. College of Agriculture, Anand Agricultural University, Anand, Gujarat during kharif season of the year 2023 to study the bio-efficacy of herbicides on weeds and yield of kharif sorghum. The experimental site was loamy sand in texture with low in organic carbon and available nitrogen, medium in available phosphorus and high in available potash. The experimental field was affected by diverse weed flora with monocots, dicots and sedges. There were 12 different treatments of pre- and post-emergence herbicides as well as interculturing and hand weeding taken for the weed management in sorghum crop. Among the different treatments, intercultuing followed by hand weeding at 15 and 30 DAS recorded significantly higher weed density and weed control efficiency while lower weed dry biomass as compared to other treatments followed by pre-emergence application of atrazine 50% WP at 500 g a.i./ha + pendimethalin 30% EC at 500 g a.i./ha (tank mix) and atrazine 50% WP at 1000 g a.i./ha as pre-emergence. The results also showed that grain and straw yield of soghum was increased with different weed management practices as compared to control. Pre-emergence application of atrazine 50% WP at 500 g a.i./ha + pendimethalin 30% EC at 500 g a.i./ha (tank mix) got maximum net returns (₹66662/ha) and benefit: cost ratio (2.33).