Effect of non-chemical and chemical method of weed management in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.)

Abstract

The effective and eco-friendly way of weed management in tomato is essential for safer produce and clean environment. Accordingly, the experiment was conducted with chemical and non-chemical methods of weed management in tomato. The experiment consisted of nine treatments viz., four herbicides with and without hand weeding on 45 DAT viz., pendimethalin 1.00kg a.i. ha-1, oxyflourfen 0.125kg a.i./ha, metribuzin 0.50kg a.i. ha-1, fluchloralin 1.00kg a.i. ha-1 compared against non-chemical methods viz., the black polythene mulch (8m) was laid out at one day before transplanting, manual weeding and weedy check (control).Different weed control treatments significantly influenced the mean fruit yield. The yield increase in pre-emergence application of herbicide, pre emergence application of herbicide followed by hand weeding (IWM), polythene mulching, and twice manual weeding on 25 and 45 DAT were 45.8%, 75.8, 140.6 and 66.5% over weedy check. Thus, the polythene mulching was better than other methods of weed control. The maximum fruit yield of 24.78 t ha-1 was recorded under polythene mulching. The integrated weed management (IWM) involving pre emergence application of herbicide followed by hand weeding resulted in higher tomato yield of 18.32 t ha-1 than pre emergence application of herbicide, manual weeding and weedy check. The non-chemical like black polythene mulching resulted the higher net income of Rs.88258 ha-1 with BC ratio of 3.48 than other weed control methods. Hence, black polythene mulching may be recommended for effective control of weeds besides improving the fruit yield of tomato. In the absence of black polythene mulch due to non-availability, the integrated weed management practice of pre emergence application of herbicides followed by hand weeding on 45 DAT found to be better than other weed control measures.