Bio-efficacy of Pre-emergent Herbicides for Weed Control in Maize: A Review on Weed Dynamics Evaluation

Abstract

Maize has high yield potential due to its C4 metabolism and physiological characteristics; however, the excessive occurrence of weeds in maize field limits the full expression of the yield potential of this crop. Weeds constitute one of the major economically important problems for maize growers and if not uncontrolled, it can reduce its yield up to 86 per cent. The magnitude of losses largely depends upon the composition of weed flora, period of crop-weed competition and its intensity. In order to realize the yield potential of maize, weed management becomes indispensable. Describing the various aspects of the topic, especially the influence of using pre-emergent use of herbicides on associated weeds revealed that the use of atrazine and pendimetheline are highly important component of today’s weed management systems for maize with higher weed control efficiency, lowest weed density and dry weight. Atrazin @ 1.2 kg active ingredient per ha and pendimmethline @ 1.0 a.i. kg per ha are important in reducing weed emergence in early growth stages of maize.