Effect of weed management practices on growth, yield and economics of grain amaranth (Amaranthus hypochondriacus L.) crop under south Gujarat condition

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during rabi season of 2023-24 at the College Farm, Navinchandra Mafatlal College of Agriculture, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari to study the “Weed management in grain amaranth (Amaranthus hypochondriacus L.) under south Gujarat condition.” The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with three replications and ten treatments. The result of experiment indicated that significantly higher values of plant growth characters viz., plant height, days to 50% flowering and dry weight of plant, and yield attributing characters viz., length of spike, number of spikletes spike-1 and grain weight plant-1 were recorded under weed-free (Hand weeding and IC at 20, 40 and 60 DAS) treatment followed by Oxadiargyl @ 50 g a.i. ha-1 (PE) followed by Quizalofop @ 50 g a.i. ha-1 at 30 DAS (PoE). Weed free treatment produced significantly higher grain and stover yields of amaranth. Among the herbicide applied treatment, significantly higher grain yield was noted with the application of Oxadiargyl @ 50 g a.i. ha-1 (PE) followed by Quizalofop @ 50 g a.i. ha-1 at 30 DAS (PoE), but it remained at par with Oxadiargyl @ 50 g a.i. ha-1 (PE) followed by clodinofop @ 50 g a.i. ha-1 at 30 DAS (PoE) and Pendimethalin @ 400 g a.i. ha-1 (PE) followed by Quizalofop @ 50 g a.i. ha-1 at 30 DAS (PoE). However, test weight and harvest index found not significant due to different weed management practices.