Response of mulching and weed management practices on weed control, yield and economics of garlic

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during rainy season of (Kharif) 2014 and 2015 at Main Research Station, Hebbal, Bengaluru to know the bio-efficacy of different herbicides against weeds and their effect on growth, yield of garlic and to study the integrated impact of mulching and herbicides on weed growth and to know phytotoxicity effect, if any. The experiment was laid out in a split-plot design with ten treatments, comprising with and without paddy straw mulch 5.0 t/ha in main-plot and weed management methods like pendimethalin at 1.0 kg/ha, oxyflurofen at 0.22 kg/ha, oxadiargyl at 0.14 kg/ha, manual weeding twice at 20 and 40 DAS and weedy check in sub-plot. Results revealed that among weed management practices, significantly higher bulb yield was obtained in oxadiargyl 0.14 kg/ha (6.6 t/ha in 2014 and 6.2 t/ha in 2015), at par with manual weeding (6.5 t/ha in 2014 and 6.0 t/ha in 2015), due to lower weed density and dry weight resulting in higher net returns and benefit:cost ratio.