o número, peso fresco e seco dos nódulos, raiz, caule e peso seco total da planta, enquanto duas capinas manuais aumentaram significativamente das características citadas. Duas capinas manuais e os herbicidas de pré-emergência aplicados nas doses recomendadas aumentaram o rendimento da soja e seus atributos. Duas capinas manuais produziram maiores números de vagens por planta, peso de vagem por planta e número de sementes por planta em 140,7; 150,0 e 59,8%, respectivamente, comparado ao tratamento capinado. Por outro lado, oxadiargyl aplicado na dose recomendada (480 g ha -1 ) apresentou maior rendimento de semente (g planta -1 ), rendimento de semente (kg ha -1 ) e rendimento biológico (g planta -1 ) que o tratamento sem capina em 87,3; 85,0 e 88,2%, respectivamente. Prometryn na dose de 1,50 kg ha -1 , seguido de duas capinas manuais produziu a maior percentagem de proteína na parte aérea e sementes como também de óleo na semente, comparado a outros tratamentos de controle de plantas daninhas.Palavras-chave: Glycine max; herbicidas, manejo de plantas daninhas.ABSTRACT -Two field experiments were conducted at the experimental farm of the National Research Centre at Shalakan, Kalubia Governorate, Egypt, during 2006 and 2007 seasons, to study the effect of three pre-emergence herbicides, prometryn [at the rate of 0.75, 1.5 and 2.25 kg ha -1 ], oxadiargyl [at the rate of 240, 480 and 720 g ha -1 ] and butralin [at the rate of 1.20, 2.40 and 3.36 kg ha -1 ], two hand hoeing treatments and a nonweeded check, on weed infestation, nodulation, growth, yield and yield attributes of soybean plants. Two hand hoeing treatments resulted in the highest weed depression expressed as the lowest fresh and dry weights of broadleaved, grassy and total weeds. The reduction percentage in weed dry matter compared to the nonweeded treatment was 98.3, 92.64 and 96.9% in broadleaved, grassy and total weeds, 856 respectively. Application of the three herbicides at higher or recommended doses significantly reduced fresh and dry weight of the weeds compared to the nonweeded treatment. The results indicated that all the three herbicides at rates higher than the recommended markedly decreased the number, fresh and dry weight of nodules as well as root, shoot and total dry weight plant -1 , while application of two hand hoeing treatments significantly increased these traits. Two hand hoeing treatments and pre-emergence herbicides at the recommended rates markedly increased soybean yield and its attributes. Two hand hoeing treatments gave the highest values of number of pods per plant -1 , weight of pods per plant -1 and number of seeds per plant -1 by 140.7, 150.0 and 59.8%, respectively, compared to the nonweeded treatment. On the other hand, oxadiargyl at the recommended rate (480 g ha -1 ) was the best treatment for promoting seed yield (g plant -1 ), seed yield (kg ha -1 ) and biological yield (g plant -1 ) compared to the nonweeded treatment by 87.3, 85.0 and 88.2%, respectively. Prometryn at the rate of 1.50 kg ha -1 , followed by two...