PLANT POPULATION AND WEED MANAGEMENT PRACTICES EFFECT ON YIELD AND ECONOMICS OF PIGEON PEA

A.S. CHAVAN¹, VAISHALI H. SURVE²*, SEEMA SHARMA³, V.C. RAJ^4
1Department of Agronomy, N.M. College of Agriculture, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari, Gujarat
²Department of Agronomy, N.M. College of Agriculture, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari, Gujarat
³Department of Agronomy, N.M. College of Agriculture, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari, Gujarat
⁴Department of Agronomy, N.M. College of Agriculture, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari, Gujarat
* Corresponding Author : vaishu.surve@nau.in

Received : 02-02-2016     Accepted : 03-03-2016     Published : 14-05-2016
Volume : 8     Issue : 16       Pages : 1290 - 1293
Int J Agr Sci 8.16 (2016):1290-1293

Keywords : Plant Population, Weed Management, Pendimethalin
Academic Editor : Jacob D., Suryakanta Khandai, Gajendra Rana
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : None declared
Author Contribution : None declared

An experiment was conducted during rabi seasons of 2012 and 2013 at Research Area of College Farm, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari to study the efficacy of pre and post emergence herbicides in controlling weed flora of pigeon pea under south Gujarat condition. The weed free treatment produced the highest seed yield and was at par with pendimethalin at 1000 g/ha (pre-emergence). However, among the other treatments, Pendimethalin @ 1 kg ha-1 (PE) + Quizalofop ethyl @ 40 g ha-1 (POE) at 40 DAS was found superior in controlling the weed flora and increasing the seed yield. Unweeded check produced the lowest seed yield. Field experiment was conducted during 2012 and 2013 in the Research Area of College Farm, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari to study the effect of residual behavior of pendimethalin applied in pigeon pea on succeeding green gram crop grown in rotation. Residual effect of pendimethalin was assessed by conducting bioassay studies on green gram in a randomized block design with three plant population levels 83,333 plants/ha (P1)' 55,555 plants/ha (P2) and 41,666 plants/ha (P3) and eight weed management practices viz. (W1) Unweeded control, (W2) Weed free (HW at 20 and 40 DAS), (W3) Pendimethalin @ 1 kg ha-1 as pre-emergence (PE), (W4) Imazethapyr @ 75 g ha-1 (POE) at 20 DAS, (W5) Quizalofop ethyl @ 40 g ha-1 (POE) at 20 DAS, (W6) Pendimethalin @ 1 kg ha-1 (PE) + Imazethapyr @ 75 g ha-1 (POE) at 40 DAS, (W7) Pendimethalin @ 1 kg ha-1 (PE) + Quizalofop ethyl @ 40 g ha-1 (POE) at 40 DAS and (W8) Pendimethalin @ 1 kg ha-1 + hand weeding at 40 DAS were evaluated in factorial randomized block design with three replications. After harvest of pigeon pea, green gram crop was planted after slight disking without disturbing the original layout. pendimethalin applied in pigeon pea was found to persist even after 35 days after its application in pigeon pea and its residues in the soil medium do not caused phytotoxicity to succeeding crop of green gram. Plant population, plant height, number of branches per plant, dry matter weight and yield of green gram were non-significantly by pendimethalin. The residual effect of pendimethalin on green gram was not found to be significant. Neither the growth parameters nor the yields of green gram were not affected significantly by plant populations in wheat. Therefore, it can be inferred that increasing plant populations not helped in degradation of pendimethalin and green gram should be planted in rotation with pigeon pea where pendimethalin has been applied in pigeon pea.