Effect of tillage and weed management practices on growth attributes and dry matter accumulation in irrigated Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.)

Abstract

An investigation was carried out during Rabi season of the year 2024-25 at Experimental Farm, Safflower Research Station, Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth, Parbhani. The experiment was laid out in a Split plot design with 15 treatments and three replicationsto evaluate the effects of tillage and weed management practices in irrigated Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.). Among all the treatments, Conventional tillage practice performed well with the significantly higher plant height (113.12 cm), Number of functional leaves plant-1 (121.88), Leaf area plant-1 (26.4 dm-2), Number of branches plant-1(16.93) and the total dry matter accumulation plant-1 (61.17 g). The growth analysis parameters, such as absolute growth rate for plant height (0.48 cm day-1 plant-1), absolute growth rate for dry matter(0.33g day-1plant-1) and leaf area index (3.26), were also recorded as highest by the conventional tillage practice, while the significantly lower values of growth attributes were recorded by direct sowing without preparatory tillage. Among all the weed management practices, Integrated weed control resulted in significantly higher plant height (116.69 cm), number of functional leaves plant-1 (132.07), Leaf area plant-1 (29.76 dm-2), number of branches plant-1 (17.35) and the total dry matter accumulation plant-1 (62.80 g). Similarly, absolute growth rate for plant height (0.44 cm day-1 plant-1), absolute growth rate for dry matter (0.32g day-1 plant-1) and leaf area index (3.59) were also higher for treatments involved in integrated weed control practice followed by the hand weeding twice.