Maize weed control and yield using different applications of tembotrione

Abstract

Present study employed different methods of tembotrione applications for weed management in maize and investigated if integration of a herbicide in intra-row and hand weeding in inter-row could provide similar level of weed control to blanket application of a herbicide. The field study was conducted in 2018 and 2019 on loamy sand soil at Ludhiana and on a clay loam soil in 2018 at Langroya, in India. At Ludhiana, Cyperus rotundus L., Dactyloctenium aegyptium (L.) Willd., Acrachne racemosa Ohwi and Trianthema portulacastrum L. and, at Langroya, C. rotundus, D. aegyptium, Echinochloa colonum L. and T. portulacastrum were major weeds. Integrated use of tembotrione at 36.7 g ha−1 alone or its tank mixture with atrazine 208 g ha−1 as band application (intra-row) with manual weeding (inter-row) provided similar level of weed control and maize grain yield to blanket application of tembotrione 110 g ha−1 alone or its tank mixture with atrazine 625 g ha−1. The study concluded that integration of herbicide application on crop rows and hand weeding in inter rows could be adopted in maize.