Enhancing Summer Soybean Yield through Evaluation of Herbicidal Weed Management Options

Abstract

The farmers of Gujarat have turned to soybean cultivation as soybean demand is increasing promisingly. Improper weed management is one of the reasons for the large yield gap between the potential and the actual yield of soybean harvested by the farmers. So, the selection of different herbicides in soybean is necessary for effective management of complex weed flora. An experiment was plotted with an aim of enhancing summer soybean yield through evaluation of herbicidal weed management options on medium black calcareous soil at Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh during summer season of 2021. The experiment comprised 12 treatments that were arranged in randomized block design with 3 replications. The outcomes of the results revealed that following to weed-free treatment, pre-mix pendimethalin + imazethapyr 750+50 g/ha as pre-emergence (PE) fb hand-weeding (HW) & inter-culturing (IC) at 30 days after sowing (DAS), HW at 15 DAS fb pre-mix propaquizafop + imazethapyr 50+75 g/ha as post-emergence (PoE) at 30 DAS, HW at 15 DAS fb pre-mix fluazifop-p-butyl + fomesafen 125+125 g/ha (PoE) at 30 DAS and pre-mix pendimethalin + imazethapyr 750+50 g/ha (PE) fb pre-mix fluazifop-p-butyl + fomesafen 125+125 g/ha (PoE) at 30 DAS enhanced growth parameters viz., plant height, branches per plant; yield attributes i.e., number of pods per plant and ultimately lead to greater seed yield and stover yield. These herbicidal weed management options also reduced population in addition to dry matter of weeds and had less reduction in yield due to better control of weeds, less crop-weed competition and higher weed control efficiency.