Phytotoxicity of Primextra Gold Herbicides on Groundnut (Arachis hypogeal) and Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L).

Abstract

Background and Objective: Primextra gold has been effective in controlling weeds of some arable crops and this experiment was carried out to evaluate the Phytotoxicity of Primextra Gold herbicide in controlling weeds of Arachis hypogeal L. and Abelmoschus esculentus L. conducted in pots. Materials and Methods: The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design with four replicates and weed control treatments-0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 kg a.i/pot were applied after planting but before seedling emergence. Parameters such as Weed Control Efficiency (WCE %), plant height, number of leaves, shoot dry weight and crop phytotoxicity were used to determine the herbicide efficacy. Results: Results show that the effects of the treatments were mostly significant (p = 0.05) for all parameters measured. The control showed the highest values in all the measured parameters. Treatments were phytotoxic to the crops and were proportional to the concentration of the treatment. The phytotoxicity of the herbicide to the crops was highly recorded in okra and there was no injury on groundnut plant. The number of leaves in the treated pots were significantly (p = 0.05) lower than in the untreated (control) pots in all crops tested. The decrease in the number of leaves was also observed to be herbicides concentration dependent. Dry shoot weight in control (untreated) pots showed highest weight than the treated pots making primextra gold to be an effective herbicide in controlling weeds associated with groundnut and okra. Conclusion: The control of weeds by primextra gold was more effective in groundnut than in okra. Further studies can be carried out in the filed as this were potted experiment.