Vol. 12, Issue 9 (2023)

Author(s):
K Mukilan, R Baskaran, C Harisudan, R Jagadeeswaran and P Boominathan

Abstract:
Groundnut crop is highly susceptible to weed infestation because of its small stature and slow-growing nature. A field experiment was conducted at Regional Research Station, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Vriddhachalam during Kharif 2023 to evaluate suitable weed management practices for effective weed control and labour saving in groundnut production. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with ten treatments replicated thrice. In this field study application of cost-based treatment of hand weeding, intercultivation and combination of pre and post-emergence herbicide practices were followed. Lower weed density (16.89 m^-2 and 15.09 m^-2) at 30 and 60 DAS and higher weed control efficiency (84.32% and 88.34%) at 30 and 60 DAS were observed in hand weeding at 20 and 40 DAS (T₉) which is on par with the pre-emergence application of diclosulam @ 0.025 kg a.i ha^-1 on 3 DAS fb hand weeding on 40 DAS (T₂). As a result of effective weed control, higher pod and haulm yield was observed in hand weeding at 20 and 40 DAS (T₉) (2342 kg ha^-1 and 4194 kg ha^-1) which is on par with the pre-emergence application of diclosulam @ 0.025 kg a.i ha^-1 on 3 DAS fb hand weeding on 40 DAS (T₂).