EFFECT OF VARIOUS HERBICIDES AND MANUAL CONTROL ON YIELD, YIELD COMPONENTS AND WEEDS OF MAIZE

A field trial was conducted to study the effect of chemical and manual weed control on yield and yield components of maize, and to study the effect of these weed control measures on the weeds infesting maize crop during the year 2011. The trial was having six treatments (weedy check, hoeing, Dual gold (smetolachlor @ 600 mL ac^-1), Heera (propisochlor 40% SE @ 600 mL ac^-1), Portico (nicosulfuron 75% WG @ 30 g ac^-1) and Atrazine 38% SC @ 400 mL ac^-1. Major weeds infesting the maize crop during the trial were Cynodon dactylon, Cyperus rotundus, Dactyloctenium aegyptium, Trianthema portulacastrum and Achyranthus aspera. Results showed that plant height, number of cobs plant^-1, number of grains cob^-1, cob length, 1000 grain weight, biological yield and grain yield of maize were all significantly affected by the applied weed control measures. The weeds m^-2 and weed biomass were also significantly affected by the application of herbicides. Hoeing resulted in 85.5% weed control and ranked first followed by Dual gold as the most effective herbicide and ranked second among the treatments with 72.35% weed control over weedy check. Dual gold @ 600 ml ac-1 also produced maximum net return of Rs. 60326 ha^-1 for the crop.