Weed growth and productivity of green gram (Vigna radiata L.) under integrated weed management practices

Abstract

Green gram is a short-duration crop that requires initial control of weeds for better crop establishment. The growth and productivity of green gram under integrated weed management was studied at the Agricultural farm of Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan, deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, in the summer 2022. Ten treatments comprised of recommended herbicides, the stale seedbed technique, an aqueous extract of Calotropis gigantea and their combination were designed in the RBD with 3 replications. Results showed that the minimum density and biomass of weeds and maximum growth of green gram were found in twice hand weeding, which was statistically significant with the pre-emergence application of pendimethalin fb imazethapyr as post-emergence and the stale seedbed technique fb imazethapyr as post-emergence. The maximum yield (10.70 q/ha) was documented under two-hand weeding at 15 and 30 DAS, which was statistically comparable with the yield levels of sequential application of pendimethalin fb imazethapyr (10.17 q/ha) and stale seedbed technique fb imazethapyr as post-emergence (9.92 q/ha). Thus, pendimethalin at 750 g/ha at 1 DAS or stale seedbed at 15 days before sowing (DBS), followed by imazethapyr at 75 g/ha at 20 DAS, appeared to be effective in reducing the diverse weed flora significantly and achieving higher growth and yield in summer green gram.