Integrated weed management in transplanted rice: options for addressing labor constraints and improving farmers’ income in Bangladesh

Abstract

In Bangladesh, weeds in transplanted rice are largely controlled by labor-intensive and costly manual weeding, resulting in inadequate and untimely weed control. Labor scarcity coupled with intensive rice production has triggered increased use of herbicides. These factors warrant a cost-effective and strategic integrated weed management (IWM) approaches. On-farm trials with transplanted rice were conducted during monsoon (‘Aman’) season in 2016 and 2017 and winter (‘Boro’) season in 2016 to 2017 in agroecological zones 11 and 12 with ten treatments - seven herbicide-based IWM options, one mechanical weed control-based option, and two checks – farmers’ current weed control practice and weed-free, to assess effects on weed control, grain yield, labor use, and profitability. Compared to farmers’ practice, herbicide-based IWM options with mefenacet+bensulfuron-methyl as preemergence (PRE) followed by (fb) either bispyribac-sodium or penoxsulam as postemergence (POST) fb one hand-weeding (HW) were most profitable alternatives, with reductions in labor requirement by 11 to 25 persons-day ha−1 and total weed control cost by USD 44 to 94 ha−1, resulting in net returns increases by USD 54 to 77 ha−1 without compromising on grain yield. In contrast, IWM options with bispyrbac-sodium or penoxsulam as POST application fb one HW reduced yields by 12 to 13% and profits by USD 71 to 190 ha−1. Non-chemical option with mechanical weeding fb one HW performed similarly to farmers’ practice on yield and profitability. We suggest additional research to develop feasible herbicide-free approaches to weed management in transplanted rice that can offer competitive advantages to current practices.

A Review on Integrated Weed Management in Transplanted Rice

“…). Chinnamuthu et al [73] also reported that pre emergence application of pretilachlor at 0.45 kg a.i. ha -1 on 3 DAS + roto cylindrical weeder weeding on 45 DAS resulted in the least total weed density and weed dry weight.…”

Adapted Conservation Agriculture Practices Can Increase Energy Productivity and Lower Yield-Scaled Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Coastal Bangladesh

“…This contrasts with the use of human labor for weed control in CT and FP, contributing to the 26-39% and 28-41% reduction in the person-days ha -1 required to grow these crops under CA and SAT, respectively. However, given the general low-degree of understanding among farmers of the potentially detrimental ecotoxicological effects of pesticide use (Shammi et al, 2018;Ahmed et al, 2021), as well as the potential for shifts in the community composition of weed species under reduced tillage and rice-maize rotations in Values in columns not separated by sources of variation sharing the same letter are significantly different according to Tukey's HSD at a = 0.5 and ns, not significant. according to Tukey's HSD (for TCE and V) or the Student's t test (for V) at a = 0.05; Trials were placed in five farmers each in Babuganj and Kalapara, and 10 in Kaliganj.…”

Automatic Localization of Soybean Seedlings Based on Crop Signaling and Multi-View Imaging

“…Soybean is the fourth most important grain crop grown across the world [1]. As one of the most profitable agricultural products, soybean plays an important role in serving as a primary source of protein and nutraceuticals for both humans and livestock, and is produced widely around the world [2,3]. Weeds that grow spontaneously on agricultural soils compete fiercely with soybeans for light, water, and nutrients in the early stages of soybean growth, which greatly inhibits the growth of soybeans [4].…”