Comparative efficacy of different weed management strategies in wheat

Abstract

Weed management programs should focus on environmental safety along with benefits to the farmer. We evaluatedthe effects of various weed control methods: 'daab' practice (stale seed bed technique), manual hoeing, and thechemical method (mixture of Buctril Super 60EC [bromoxynil + MCPA] 0.45 kg ai ha-1 and Puma Super 75EW[fenoxaprop-P-ethyl] 0.75 kg ai ha-1) in combination with different planting geometries: 22.5 cm apart single row,22.5 cm apart crisscross double row, 30 cm apart single row and broadcast sowings on weed control and grainyield of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) var. Sehar 2006 at the University College of Agriculture, University ofSargodha, Pakistan, during the winters of 2009 and 2010. The chemical method, manual hoeing and 'daab' practicegave 71.44%, 30.69% and 28.60% weed controls resulting in 11.79%, 11.09% and 4.95% increases in grain yieldabove that of the weedy control, respectively. The 22.5 cm apart single row sowing in combination with chemicalweed control proved to be the best regarding weed control (87.23%), grain yield (4073 kg ha-1) and number of fertiletillers m-2 (509.5), whereas wheat plant height (108.2 cm), number of grains spike-1 (45.90) and 1000 grain weight(45.23 g) were higher in 30 cm apart single row sowing in interaction with manual hoeing. Grain yield showeda significant negative (b = -152.8) and positive (b = 3.21) correlation with weed biomass and fertile tillers m-2,respectively. Chemical weed control, 'daab' practice and manual hoeing gave cost:benefit ratios of 2.50, 1.95 and1.14, respectively. Although the chemical method seems the most profitable, the 'daab' practice was found to be themost advantageous if environmental concerns were taken into consideration.