Integrated weed management in Bt cotton

Abstract

Cotton is one of the major commercial crop and also called 'White Gold'. Of many problems faced by the cotton growers, the most troublesome one is the control of weeds particularly during early stages of crop growth. Venugopalan et al. (2009) reported a reduction in yield due to weeds in cotton crop to the extent of 50 to 85%. Farmers are facing problem of timely weed management in cotton crop and also increased cost of production due to scarcity of labours, increased labour wages etc. To overcome these problems farmers are using the herbicides which are available in market, without considering the lable claim of herbicides, its safe dose of application, persistency, phyto-toxicity and other technical details, which many leads creating problem to other crop or succeeding crop, adverse effect on soil micro flora and fauna, and environmental pollution.Weeds in cotton field can be effectively killed or their growth can be minimised at the germination stage itself by the use of suitable herbicide. They are capable of giving the crop a relatively better weed free situation in the early stage of crop. Pre-emergence use of pendimethalin and oxyflurofen will control the weeds in early stages and thereby ensure efficient utilization of inputs put in by the farmers. The weeds (annual and perennial), which appear in the later period of crop growth could be controlled by combining cultural methods and post-emergence application of herbicides like quizalofop-ethyl and pyrithiobac-sodium. Thus, herbicides would solve the weed problem quite efficiently and economically. The present investigation aimed at identifying suitable integrated weed management in Bt cotton was conducted during Kharif 2014 at Post Graduate Instruction Farms, MPKV, Rahuri.The experiment was conducted at Post Graduate Institute Farm, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri, Dist. Ahmednagar (Maharashtra) during Kharif season, 2014. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design consisted of three replications of ten treatments, viz. one hoeing at 15 days after seeding (DAS) + two hands weeding (HW) at 30 and 45 DAS, three inter cultivations with mechanical weeder at 20, 40 and 60 DAS, pendimethalin pre-emergence application (PE) at 1.0 kg/ha followed by (fb) one HW at 45 DAS, oxyfluorfen PE at 0.1 kg/ha fb one HW at 45 DAS, pendimethalin PE 1.0 kg/ha fb pyrithiobac-sodium post emergence application (PoE) at 75 g/ha at 45 DAS + one inter cultivation through mechanical weeder at 60 DAS, pendimethalin PE at 1.0 kg/ha fb quizalofop-ethyl PoE at 50 g/ha at 45 DAS + one inter cultivation through mechanical weeder at 60 DAS, oxyfluorfen PE at 0.1 kg/ha fb pyrathiobac-sodium PoE at 75 g/ha at 45 DAS + one inter cultivation through mechanical weeder at 60 DAS, oxyfluorfen PE at 0.1 kg/ha fb quizalofop-ethyl PoE at 50 g/ha at 45 DAS + one inter cultivation through mechanical weeder at 60 DAS, weedy check and weed free check. The Bt cotton cultivar 'Malika (NCH-207)' was sown. The gross and net plot size were 6.3 x 5.4 m and 4.5 x 3.6 m, respectively. The soi...

Weed Management in Maize System in New Alluvial Zone of West Bengal

“…Thus, the improvement in yield component was as a consequence of lower crop-weed competition, which shifted the balance in favour of crop in the utilization of nutrients, moisture, light and space. The results are supported with the findings of Angiras (1998) and Kamble et al, (2005).…”

Microbial Response to Different Herbicides Application in Maize for Effective Weed Management

“…Thus, the improvement in growth and yield components was as a consequence of lower crop-weed competition, which shifted the balance in favour of crop in the utilization of nutrients, moisture, light and space. These results are in conformity with the findings of Saini and Angiras (1998), Sreenivas and Satyanarayana (1994) and Kamble et al (2005).…”

Evaluation of Fertility Levels and Herbicide Mixtures for Yield and Yield Attributes of Rainfed Maize under Temperate Conditions of Kashmir Valley

“…; higher number of cobs/plant, grains per cob and 100-grain weight. This improvement in turn was due to higher dry matter production and distribution in different parts (Kamble et al, 2005). This implies that with effective and efficient weed control, more plant nutrients are made available to the crop for enhanced leaf area formation that increases solar radiation interception thereby favouring better utilization of photosynthesis for higher grain yield.…”