Weed Management Effects on Yield and Nutrient Uptake in Tomato: A Two-Year Field Study

Abstract

Weed competition is a major constraint to productivity and nutrient acquisition in tomato production, where non-chemical weed-management options are important. A two-year field experiment was conducted during the kharif seasons of 2022-23 and 2023-24 at the AICRP on Weed Management Block, College Farm, Professor Jayashankar Telangana Agricultural University, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, to evaluate weed-management practices to improve tomato yield and N, P and K acquisition. The experiment used a randomised block design with three replications and nine treatments: live mulch with dhaincha, stale seedbed, polyethene mulch, rice-straw mulch, hoeing, fenugreek intercropping, tamarind-leaf aqueous extract, an unweeded control and a metribuzin-based chemical benchmark. Weed-management practices significantly affected fruit yield, nutrient concentration and nutrient uptake in both seasons. The chemical benchmark (T9) recorded the highest fruit yields, 234.3 and 244.3 q ha-¹ in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Among the non-chemical treatments, polyethene mulch plus intra-row hand weeding at 30 days after transplanting (DAT) (T3) recorded 213.4 and 208.2 q ha-1, followed by rice-straw mulch @ 5 t ha-1 plus intra-row hand weeding at 30 DAT (T4), which produced 190.4 and 184.7 q ha-1. T3 also recorded the highest N, P and K uptake among the non-chemical treatments in both seasons, with 40.62, 8.12 and 47.39 kg ha-1, respectively, in 2022 and 40.19, 8.04 and 46.89 kg ha-1 in 2023. The results indicated that polyethene mulch combined with timely intra-row hand weeding was the most productive non-chemical treatment. In contrast, rice-straw mulch plus hand weeding provides a residue-based option where suitable residues and labour are locally available.