Effect of integrated weed management practices on growth and yield of Kabuli chickpea

Introduction

Chickpea is one of the most important rabi pulse crop of India. It is very good source of carbohydrates and proteins which contains 18-22% protein, 61-62% carbohydrates, 4.5% fat with a calorific value of 396 kcal 100 gm -1 . Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is the second most cultivated and most consumed grain legume after beans worldwide (FAOSTAT, 2021). It is grown in an area of 10 million hectares with a production of 11.91 million tonnes and a productivity of 1192 kg ha - 1 in India. In Andhra Pradesh, it is cultivated in an area of 0.47 million hectares with a production of 0.53 million tonnes and a productivity of 1136 kg ha -1 (Agricultural statistics at a glance -2022) [1] . The productivity of chickpea is comparatively very low. This may be due to various biotic and abiotic factors. Poor weed management is one of the most limiting factors in chickpea. Chickpea, which is slow in early growth and being a short stature plant, it is highly susceptible to weed competition and often considerable losses may occur if weeds left uncontrolled. Chaudhary et al. (2005) [2] reported 75% of yield reduction in chickpea due to serious competition with weeds. To manage these weeds generally hand weeding is followed, due to increase in labour costs it is not economically viable and there is need for prioritizing other options like intercultivation and herbicides. As a response to this several integrated weed management practices and herbicides were tested for weed control in chickpea.

Materials and Methods

A field experiment was conducted during rabi of 2022-2023 at Agricultural college farm, Bapatla, Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Andhra Pradesh. The soil was clay in texture with neutral pH, having low organic carbon 0.36%, available nitrogen 160 kg /ha and medium available phosphorus 26.4 kg /ha, medium available potassium 320 kg/ha. The experiment consists of 11 treatments viz., T 1: Weedy check, T 2: Hand weeding at 15 DAS and 30 DAS, T 3: Butachlor @ 1.5 kg a.i. /ha as PE, T 4: Butachlor @ 1.5 kg a.i. /ha as PE fb Sodium Acifluorfen @ 160 g + Clodinafop Propargyl @ 80 g a.i. /ha as PoE at 30 DAS, T 5: Butachlor @ 1.5 kg a.i. /ha as PE fb Fomesafen @ 110 g + Fluazifop-p-butyl @ 110 g a.i. /ha as PoE at 30 DAS, T 6: Butachlor @ 1.5 kg a.i. /ha as PE fb Topramezone @ 25 g a.i. /ha as PoE at 30 DAS, T 7: Butachlor @ 1.5 kg a.i. /ha as PE fb Quizalofop ethyl @ 50 g a.i. /ha as PoE at 30 DAS, T 8: Butachlor @ 1.5 kg a.i. /ha as PE fb Hand weeding at 30 DAS, T 9: Butachlor @ 1.5 kg a.i. /ha as PE fb Intercultivation at 30 DAS, T 10: Intercultivation at 15 DAS and 30 DAS, T 11: Hand weeding at 15 DAS fb Intercultivation at 30 DAS. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with three replications. Chickpea, NBeg-149 variety was sown on fully prepared experimental field with a spacing of 45 cm × 10 cm. Before sowing, entire dose of nitrogen (20 kg /ha) and phosphorus (50 kg /ha) and potassium (40 kg /ha) was applied as basal. Application of both pre emergence and post emergence herbicides was done as per the respective treatments.

Results and Discussion

The predominant weed species observed in the experimental plot were grasses like Cynodon dactylon, Dinebra retroflexa, Dactylactenium aegyptium, Chloris barbata; sedge like Cyperus rotundus and broad leaved weeds like Trichodesma indica, Cleome viscosa, Digera arvensis, Phyllanthus niruri, Parthenium hysterophorus, Euphorbia hirta, Chrozophera rottleri and Physalis minima. Higher plant height, drymatter production were found with hand weeding at 15 DAS and 30 DAS which was on par with butachlor @ 1.5 kg a.i. ha -1 as PE fb hand weeding at 30 DAS. Among herbicide combinations, butachlor @ 1.5 kg a.i. ha -1 as PE fb sodium acifluorfen @ 160 g + clodinafop propargyl @ 80 g a.i. ha -1 as PoE at 30 DAS recorded higher plant height, and drymatter production which was comparable with butachlor @ 1.5 kg a.i. ha -1 as PE fb fomesafen @ 110 g + fluazifop-p-butyl @ 110 g a.i. ha -1 as PoE at 30 DAS. Higher drymatter production in chickpea with hand weeding at 15 DAS and 30 DAS may be attributed to reduced competition for growth resources, which facilitated a favorable environment for improved crop growth and higher accumulation of dry matter. These reports were in accordance with Balwan et al. (2016) [6] . The higher number of pods plant -1 , seed yield and haulm yield were recorded with hand weeding at 15 DAS and 30 DAS and it was on par with butachlor @ 1.5 kg a.i. /ha as PE fb hand weeding at 30 DAS. This might be due to reduced crop weed competition during their critical period which favoured better environment for crop growth and development. These results are in agreement with the findings of Chaudhary et al. (2005) [2] . Among the herbicide combinations studied, higher number of pods plant -1 , seed yield and haulm yield were recorded with the application of butachlor @ 1.5 kg a.i. /ha as PE fb sodium acifluorfen @ 160 g + clodinafop propargyl @ 80 g a.i. /ha as PoE at 30 DAS which was on par with butachlor @ 1.5 kg a.i. /ha as PE fb fomesafen @ 110 g + fluazifop-p-butyl @ 110 g a.i. /ha as PoE at 30 DAS. The decrement in yields of the herbicide combinations was due to the phytotoxicity of the herbicides on the chickpea crop.

Phytotoxicity

Symptoms like chlorosis and slight stunting was observed in the treatment butachlor @ 1.5 kg a.i. /ha as PE fb sodium acifluorfen @ 160 g + clodinafop propargyl @ 80 g a.i. /ha as PoE at 30 DAS after spraying of post emergence herbicide. The crop regained its satisfactory growth within 7-14 days after spraying of post emergence herbicide. Similar observations were reported by Nath et al. (2018) [4] and Manasa et al. (2022) [3] . Symptoms like discoloration of leaves, stunted growth and slight injury was observed in the treatment butachlor @ 1.5 kg a.i. /ha as PE fb fomesafen @ 110 g + fluazifop-p-butyl @ 110 g a.i. /ha as PoE at 30 DAS. However, the crop regained its normal growth within 14-21 days after spraying of post emergence herbicide. In case of butachlor @ 1.5 kg a.i. /ha as PE fb topramezone @ 25 g a.i/ha as PoE at 30 DAS treatment, severe injury of the crop was seen and the crop recovered 21 days after spraying of post emergence herbicide. These observations were in accordance with the sanketh et al. (2021) [5] .

References

1. Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India. Agricultural statistics at a glance 2022. 2022. https://desagri.gov.in.
2. Chaudhary BM, Patel JJ, Delvadia DR. Effect of weed management practices and seed rates on weeds and yield of chickpea. Indian J Weed Sci. 2005;37(3-4):271-272.
3. Manasa D, Chovatia PK, Kathiria RK. Weed management in chickpea at South Saurashtra of Gujarat, India. Indian J Weed Sci. 2022;54(1):107-109.
4. Nath CP, Dubey RP, Sharma AR, Hazra KK, Kumar N, Singh SS. Evaluation of new generation post-emergence herbicides in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). Natl Acad Sci Lett. 2018;41(1):1-5.
5. Sanketh GD, Rekha KB, Sudhanshu KS, Ramprakash T. Effect of integrated weed management with new herbicide mixtures on growth, yield and weed dynamics in chickpea. Pharma Innov J. 2021;10(7):1074-1074.
6. Balwan HM, Verma HP, Kumar M, Singh M. Effect of weed management practices on growth, yield attributes and economics of gram in South Gujarat. Ann Agric Res. 2016;37(4):410-415.