Weed invasion of groundnut crop in sandy soil using drip irrigation system with black polyethylene mulch

Abstract

Weeds cause serious damage to the crop yield by sharing land, water, soil nutrients, and sunlight, etc.,which increase the cost of cultivation, impairment of quantity and quality. The objective of the research isto compare the water use efficiency, weed index, and weed control efficiency under a drip irrigation systemwith black polyethylene mulch, using four treatments, such as Drip, Drip with Mulch, Mulch, and Control.The acquired findings revealed that there is a significant difference between the treatment means, with theleast significant difference being (P>0.05). However, the maximum acquired water use efficiency in dripwith mulch treatment is 14.43 kg/ha-mm, followed by drip, mulch, and control were 10.89, 8.82, 6.55 kg/ ha-mm, respectively. Due to increasing weed infestation, the weed index in control was found to be high as33.69 percent, followed by mulch, drip and drip with mulch were 28.79, 12.81 and zero per cent duly. Theweed control efficiency was acquired to be high in drip with mulch treatment as 91.34 percent and 84.78percent at 30 and 60 days after sowing respectively. Plastic mulch improves the water use efficiency andproductivity with a controlled amount of water application with drip irrigation system. The researchconcludes that using a drip irrigation system in conjunction with black polyethylene mulch for the cultivationof groundnut crops in sandy soils is superior and beneficial for the farmers to achieve high yields, whichresults in economic benefit of the farmers.