Abstract :
To evaluate the influence of different weed management practices on weeds growth and grain yield of maize, an experiment was carried out during 2010 at the New Developmental Farm, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Agricultural University Peshawar, Pakistan. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design and replicated three times; comprising of seven different weed management treatments including sorghum mulch, wheat straw, news papers, black plastic, a hand weeding, a herbicide (Primextra gold @ 1 lit ha-1), and a weedy check. Maize variety “Azam” was selected for the experiment and sown in a plot size of 4.2 m x 4 m. All the treatments convincingly affected the parameters of weed density m-2, fresh and dry weeds biomass; and yield components of maize such as thousand grain weight, number of grains ear-1 and grain yield of maize. Highest weed density (82 plants m-2), fresh (2080 kg) and dry weeds biomass (1097 kg ha-1) were found in the weedy check plots, which were statistically at par with wheat straw (63 plants m-2, 1583 kg and 951 kg ha-1, respectively) and news paper mulched treatments (73 plants m-2, 1477 kg and 920 kg ha-1, respectively). In the same way, hand weeding and chemical weed control treatment (Primextra gold) resulted in the highest thousand grain weights (245.7 and 256.7 g), biological yields (12518 and 13056 kg ha-1) and grain yields of maize (4285 and 4143 kg ha-1), respectively. In conclusion the hand weeding and Primextra gold 720SC treatments were convincingly effective in terms of weeds suppression and grain yield enhancement of maize.
Keywords :
Effect , grain yield , maize , mulches , weeds , weed control
