Weed Dynamics of Fodder Maize as Influenced by Different Herbicides

Abstract

The advancements in fodder maize cultivation practices over the past few years, has paved a change in the makeup of weed associations. This made it necessary to incorporate new, effective herbicides in the struggle against maize's primary weeds. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted at Research Farm, AICRP on Forage Crops, Department of Agronomy, JNKVV, Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) during Kharif season 2019 to devise an appropriate combination of herbicides required for the control of the complex weed diversity in fodder maize. The field experiment was laid out in randomized block design (RBD) with ten treatments (eight herbicidal combinations along with hand weeding twice at 20 and 40 DAS and a weedy check) and replicated thrice. Observations were recorded on the weed parameters and fodder yield of maize. Among monocots, the experimental field was infested with Echinochloa colona, Commelina communis and Digitaria sanguinalis. Phyllanthus niruri and Eclipta alba were dominated among dicots. Among all herbicidal treatment, topramezone 35 g/ha plus atrazine 250 g/ha was found to be significantly superior in reducing total weed density (9.49/m2,  11.50/m2) and total weed dry weight (6.43 g/m2, 7.91 g/m2) at 30 and 45 DAS, respectively and recorded the lowest weed index (1.82%). Also, the maximum green fodder yield (472.68 q/ha) was recorded in topramazone 35 g/ha + atrazine 250 g/ha compared to other treatments. Overall, this study indicated that the combination of topramazone 35 g/ha + atrazine 250 g/ha could be an alternative approach to hand weeding and alone herbicides in fodder maize.