COMPARISON OF MECHANICAL AND CHEMICAL WEED CONTROL IN WHEAT-MAIZE CROPPING SYSTEM
Abstract
Different tillage practices and herbicides application could be operated and used to optimize spatial distribution, enhance plant growth and reduce weed infestation. Therefore, the two years (2017-18 and 2018-19) experiment entitled “Comparison of mechanical and chemical weed control in wheat-maize cropping system” was conducted at New Developmental Farm, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan. Different tillage practices (mould board plough followed by rotavator, disc harrow, rotavator and cultivator twice followed by planking) and herbicide application (Pre-emergence, Post-emergence and control) were used. The two years experiment (2017-18 and 2018-19) was set up according to the split-plot design with 4 replications. Tillage practices were assigned to the main plots while herbicide applications were kept into the sub-plots, within the main plots. The mean data revealed that different tillage practices significantly affected weed density, fresh weed biomass, dry weed biomass, and grain yield. The maximum values of above parameters were recorded in T4 (cultivator twice) for weed density, fresh weed biomass and dry weed biomass while for grain yield in T1 (Mould board plough followed by rotavator). Almost all parameters showed a decreasing trend with increasing the level of tillage practices. Similarly herbicides application also significantly affected weed density, fresh weed biomass, dry weed biomass, and grains yield. The maximum values of above parameters were recorded in Ho (control) followed by H1(Pre-emergence herbicides) and H2 (Post-emergence herbicides) Interaction between different tillage practices and herbicides application (TxH) revealed significant variation between different parameters. It is concluded that integration of mechanical and chemical strategy could be useful for reducing weed growth and improving the overall farm productivity and profitability of wheat-maize cropping system.
