IMPACT OF INTEGRATED WEED MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON WEED DYNAMICS, GROWTH AND YIELD OF PEARLMILLET [Pennisetum glaucum L. Br. Emend. Stuntz.]

P.S. MISHRA¹*, Y. RAMU REDDI², D. SUBRAMANYAM³, V. UMAMAHESH^4
1Department of Agronomy, S.V. Agricultural College, Tirupati, Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University, 517502, Andhra Pradesh
²Department of Agronomy, S.V. Agricultural College, Tirupati, Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University, 517502, Andhra Pradesh
³Department of Agronomy, S.V. Agricultural College, Tirupati, Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University, 517502, Andhra Pradesh
⁴Department of Crop Physiology, S.V. Agricultural College, Tirupati, Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University, 517502, Andhra Pradesh
* Corresponding Author : suryaprakash434@gmail.com

Received : 01-01-2017     Accepted : 09-01-2017     Published : 18-01-2017
Volume : 9     Issue : 3       Pages : 3677 - 3679
Int J Agr Sci 9.3 (2017):3677-3679

Keywords : Atrazine, Hand weeding, Phytotoxicity, Oxyflourfen, Post-emergence, Pre-emergence
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : All the authors sincerely acknowledge the useful advice of Dr. V. Sumathi during the experiment
Author Contribution : Dr. Y. Reddi Ramu, Dr. D. Subramanyam and Dr. V. Umamahesh provided technical advice during the experiment and helped in preparation of the manuscript

In this research, the effects of integrated weed management practices on weed dynamics, growth and yield of pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) Br. Emend. Stuntz.] were studied at different growth stages. Weed density and dry weight were recorded thrice at 25 and 50 DAS and at harvest. The lowest density and dry weight of weeds were observed with hand weeding twice at 20 and 40 DAS, which was at par with pre-emergence application of atrazine @ 750 g a.i./ha fb hand weeding at 30 DAS. The observations on growth and yield attributes by plants were recorded at harvest. Hand weeding twice at 20 and 40 DAS and pre-emergence application of atrazine @ 750 g a.i./ha fb hand weeding at 30 DAS recorded 86.5 and 83.8% higher grain yield over weedy check. Pre-emergence application of oxyfluorfen @ 100 g a.i./ha resulted in poor weed control and grain yield and was reported to be phytotoxic to the crop. Integration of post-emergence herbicides viz., ethoxysulfuron @ 37.5 g a.i./ha or almix @ 8 g a.i./ha at 25 DAS with any of the pre-emergence herbicides viz., atrazine and oxyfluorfen did not have any significant effect on weed control and grain yield of pearl millet. Integration of pre-emergence application of atrazine with hand weeding effectively controlled the weed population and increased the grain yield of pearl millet, significantly over other integrated weed management practices