Weed management and crop performance of rice as influenced by different crop residues

Abstract

To investigate the effect of different plant residues on weed inhibition and yield of transplant aman rice, an experiment was conducted at the Agronomy Field Laboratory, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during June 2017 to December, 2017. The experiment comprised of three rice cultivars i.e. BR11, BRRI dhan34 and BRRI dhan49 and five different plant residues treatment viz., no crop residues (control), soybean, wheat, bishkatali and sorghum crop residues @ 2.0 t ha-1 of each. The experiment was laid out following randomized complete block design with three replications. Weed population and weed dry weight were significantly affected by cultivars and crop residues treatment. The highest percent inhibition of 58.31%, 46.84%, 66.85%, 66.94% and 57.6% was in Panikachu (Monochoria vaginalis), Shama (Echinochloa crusgalli), Chesra (Scirpus juncoides), Sabujnakful (Cyperus difformis) and Amrul (Oxalis corniculata), respectively caused by sorghum crop residues. The grain yield, as well as the yield contributing characters produced by BR11,was the highest among the studied varieties. The highest number of effective tillers hill-1 (8.41), number of grains panicle-1(118.08) and 1000-grain weight (20.54 g) were observed in sorghum crop residues. BR11 under sorghum crop residues @ 2.0 t ha-1 produced the highest grain (5.76 t ha-1) and straw yield (6.39 t ha-1). So, to reduce herbicide use in the present situation of Bangladesh, natural herbicide or crop residues like sorghum might be used as an alternative way for weed management for effective and sustainable rice production.