Productivity and Economic Benefits of Using Different Rates of Lumax 537.5 SE for Weed Control in Maize in a Transition Agro-ecological Zone of Ghana

Abstract

A study on the productivity and economic benefits of various rates of Lumax 537.5 SE for weed control in maize were conducted during the 2009 and 2010 cropping seasons at the Multipurpose Research Centre of the University of Education, Winneba, Mampong-Ashanti from September-December, 2009 and April-July, 2010. The treatments were Lumax 537.5 SE at rates of 2, 4, 6, and 8l/ha and Hoe-weeded with Unweeded treatment added as a control. Lumax at all rates and the Hoe-weeded treatments had more than 22% higher maize grain yield than the Unweeded control in both years. The 4l Lumax/ha gave the highest net benefit of USD1432.9/ha and USD1931.02/ha in 2009 and 2010, respectively compared to all the other treatments. The Hoe-weeded and Lumax rates at 6 l/ha and 8 l/ha had lower net benefits of USD1356.25/ha, USD1407.88/ha and USD1366.23/ha respectively in 2009, USD1830.91/ha, USD1866.41/ha, USD1834.29/ha respectively in 2010, but higher total variable costs of USD218.75/ha, USD198.63/ha and USD233.28/ha, respectively in 2009 and USD245.84/ha, USD224.54/ha and USD260.22/ha respectively in 2010 compared to the 4l Lumax/ha; and therefore were dominated by the latter. The 4l Lumax/ha gave marginal rates of returns of 544% and 714% over the 2l Lumax/ha in 2009 and 2010, respectively. It was concluded that Lumax 537.5 SE at 4l/ha was the optimum rate for better weed control and profitability for maize production in the transitional agro-ecological zone of Ghana.