Advances in Crop Science and Technology
Open Access

Research Article

Integrated Weed Management in Rabi Sweet Corn (Zea mays L. var. Saccharata)

Mathukia RK2*, Dobariya VK1, Gohil BS1 and Chhodavadia SK1
1Ph.D.Scholars Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh-362001 Gujarat, India
2Associate Research Scientist, Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh-362001, Gujarat, India
Corresponding Author :	Mathukia RK Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture Junagadh Agricultural University Junagadh-362001, Gujarat, India Tel: 7600455459 E-mail: rkmathukia@jau.in
Received March 24, 2014; Accepted September 27, 2014; Published September 29, 2014
Citation: Dobariya VK, Mathukia RK, Gohil BS, Chhodavadia SK (2014) Integrated Weed Management in Rabi Sweet Corn (Zea mays L. var. Saccharata). Adv Crop Sci Tech 2:139. doi: 10.4172/2329-8863.1000139
Copyright: © 2014 Dobariya VK, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Related article at Pubmed Scholar Google

A field experiment was conducted during rabi 2010-11 at Junagadh (Gujarat, India) to find out most efficient
and economical method of weed control in rabi sweet corn (Zea mays L. var. saccharata Sturt). The pre-emergence (PRE) herbicides viz., atrazine, pendimethalin and oxadiargyl were combined either with hand weeding (HW) and interculturing (IC) or with post-emergence (POST) herbicide 2, 4-D (SS) to evolve integrated weed management. The weed flora of the experimental site constituted Digera arvensis, Cyperus rotundus, Brachiaria spp., Asphodelus tenuifolius, Indigofera glandulosa, Amaranthus viridis, Acanthospermum hispidum, Panicum colonum, Launaea nudicaulis, Euphorbia hirta, Chenopodium album, Portulaca oleracea, Dactyloctenium aegyptium and Celosia argentea. The results revealed that physical methods viz., weed free, HW and IC twice at 15 and 30 days after sowing (DAS) as well as integrated methods viz., atrazine @ 0.5 kg a.i. /ha as PRE+HW and IC at 30 DAS and pendimethalin @ 0.9 kg a.i. /ha as PRE+HW and IC at 30 DAS significantly enhanced growth and yield attributes ultimately higher cob and fodder yields over unweeded check. The treatments viz., weed free, HW and IC twice at 15 and 30 DAS, atrazine @ 0.5 kg a.i. /ha as PRE+HW and IC at 30 DAS, and pendimethalin @ 0.9 kg a.i. /ha as PRE+HW and IC at 30 DAS also recorded the lower weed population at 30, 60 DAS and at harvest, dry weight of weed at harvest with lower weed index and higher weed control efficiency and herbicidal efficiency index. These treatments were found economical by recording higher net returns and B: C ratio compared to unweeded check.

Keywords