Effect of Non-Chemical Weed Management Practices on Weed Dynamics and Yield in Blackgram (Vigna mungo)

Abstract

The field experiment was conducted at wetlands farms of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University during summer 2022 with an objective of evaluating the non-chemical weed management practices in blackgram (vigna mungo). The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with ten treatments and replicated thrice. Treatments included leaf extracts of sorghum, castor and papaya @ 30% concentration, citric acid 5% + garlic 0.2%, dust mulching, mechanical and hand weeding along with weed free, weedy check and chemical check. The results revealed that among the various non-chemical weed management practices pre-emergence application of sorghum leaf extract @ 30% concentration resulted in lower weed density (56.33 No.m-2) and dry weight (3.28 g m-2) at 15 DAS which is higher than chemical check (32 No. m-2 and 2.11 g m-2 respectively). On 30 DAS dust mulching recorded lowest density (73.67 No. m-2) which was on par with sorghum leaf extract (81.33 No.m-2) while weedy check recorded highest density (326.67 No.m-2). PE application of sorghum leaf extract @ 30% on 3 DAS fb hand weeding on 30 DAS gave a comparative yield of 875 kg ha-1 which was highest among other non-chemical treatments. Thus, using 30% sorghum leaf extracts can aid in cost-effective non-chemical weed control in summer irrigated blackgram.