Integration of Pre-Emergence Herbicide and Mechanical Weeding for Efficient Weed Management in Jute (Corchorus olitorius L.)

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted for two consecutive years during the jute season (April to July) of 2022 and 2023 at the research farm of ICAR-Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibres  Nilganj, Barrackpore, West Bengal, India with 10 treatment combinations namely, T1: Manual weeding (nirani) two time (at 7 DAS and at 21 DAS), T2: Nail weeder two times (at 7 DAS and at 21 DAS), T3: Single wheel jute weeder two times (at 10 DAS and at 21 DAS), T4: Nail weeder (at 7 DAS) + single wheel jute weeder (at 21 DAS), T5: Ipfencarbazone @ 90 g ha-1, T6: Ipfencarbazone @ 120 g ha-1, T7: Ipfencarbazone @ 90 g ha-1 + nail weeder at 21 DAS, T8:  Ipfencarbazone @ 120 g ha-1 + nail weeder at 21 DAS, T9: Ipfencarbazone @ 90 g ha-1 + single wheel jute weeder at 21 DAS, and T10: Ipfencarbazone @ 120 g ha-1 + single wheel jute weeder at 21 DAS. The experimental design was RDB with three replications. Besides uneconomical two manual weeding producing the highest fibre yield in jute (38.5 q ha-1), application of ipfencarbazone @ 90 g ha-1 (PE) + nail weeder at 21 DAS produced higher fibre yield (36.2 q ha-1) closely followed by and at par with the fibre yield recorded with ipfencarbazone @ 90 g ha-1 (PE) + single wheel jute weeder at 21 DAS (36.1 q ha-1) and the NRPRI were higher, 2.17 and 2.16, respectively. Deployment of nail weeder as a mechanical method of weed management in jute gave additional benefit of higher soil moisture content by about 18.6 to 21% at 5 cm depth, and by about 3.8 to 5.2% at 10 cm depth at 3 DAA. Moreover, at 7 DAA also, the soil moisture contents were higher at 5 cm (34.3 to 37.9%) and at 10 cm (10 to 15.9%). The soil enzyme activities such as FDHA, dehydrogenase, β-glucosidase was initially reduced by the application of ipfencarbazone 90 g ha-1, but the same was increased to its initial levels at 120 DAS (at harvest of jute). For the jute farmers it may be suggested that application of ipfencarbazone (90 g ha-1) as pre-emergence along with mechanical weeding by nail weeder or single wheel jute weeder could manage jute weeds efficiently with higher fibre yield and better return from jute cultivation.