Performance of post emergence herbicides on weed control and yield of transplanted rice

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out during kharif 2024 at Student Farm, College of Agriculture, Professor Jayashankar Telangana Agricultural University, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, to assess the efficacy of different pre- and post-emergence herbicide combinations on weed management and yield of transplanted rice. Eight treatments, including herbicide mixtures, sequential applications, and manual weeding, were compared. Results indicated that the weed-free treatment (hand weeding at 20 and 40 DAT) recorded the lowest weed density and highest yields. However, herbicide-based treatments, particularly Bensulfuron methyl + Pretilachlor as PE followed by Florpyrauxifen-benzyl + Penoxsulam (T1) and Bensulfuron methyl + Pretilachlor as PE followed by Florpyrauxifen-benzyl + Cyhalofop-butyl (T2), performed on par with weed-free plots. These treatments achieved high weed control efficiency (>89%) and grain yields above 7100 kg ha⁻¹. In contrast, the unweeded control suffered severe weed infestation and lowest yield. The findings highlight that sequential use of pre- and post- emergence herbicides offers an effective, economical, and sustainable alternative to labor- intensive manual weeding in transplanted rice.