Effect of Integrated Weed Management Practices on Growth and Yield of Rabi Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor. L)

Abstract

A field study to “Evaluate the effect of new herbicide molecules in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.)” was conducted during Rabi season of 2023-24 at college farm, College of Agriculture, Professor Jayashankar Telangana Agriculture University, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, Telangana. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with twelve treatments each replicated thrice. The results revealed that weed free condition resulted to the highest growth parameters (plant height, dry matter production), yield attributing characters (number of ear heads per square meter, grains per ear head, ear head length, and 1000-grain weight), and maximum grain and stover yield (2830 & 6795 kg ha-1) due to higher weed control efficiency of 93.21%, reduced weed density (2.67 No. m-2) and weed dry matter (3.00 g. m-2). Among the various weed management treatments, pre- emergence (PE) application of atrazine 0.5 kg a.i. ha-1 followed by mechanical weeding (MW) at 30 DAS; post-emergence (PoE) ready mix (RM) application of halosulfuron methyl 5% + atrazine 48% WG @ 56.25+540 g a.i. ha-1 followed by MW at 45 DAS and PoE application of halosulfuron methyl 5% + atrazine 48% WG@ 56.25+540 g a.i. ha-1 recorded grain yields comparable to the weed free treatment. This implies that these treatments serve as effective alternatives for attaining comparable weed control and yield benefits to those of the weed-free treatment.