EFFECT OF MECHANICAL AND CHEMICAL WEED CONTROL ON THE PRODUCTIVITY OF COTTON

Weed management practices are of prime importance infield crops. Field experiments were conducted in two consecutiveyears (2007-08) to evaluate the effect of different weed controlmeasures on yield and yield components of cotton. The treatmentswere Stomp 330E @ 2.5 L ha-1(Pendimethalin 0.825 kg a.i. ha-1),Dual Gold 960E @ 2.0 L ha-1(S-metolachlor 1.92 kg a.i. ha-1), RoundUp 490G/L @ 4.7 L ha-1 (Glyphosate 2.303 kg a.i. ha-1), Mechanicalweeding, Stomp 330E + Mechanical weeding, Dual Gold 960E +Mechanical weeding, Round Up 490G/L + Mechanical weeding andUntreated check. All chemical and cultural methods were arrangedin a randomized complete block design with four replications. Cottoncultivar CIM-496 on silt loam soil. Results indicated that mechanicaland chemical weeding increased seed cotton yield and yieldcomponents over untreated check. While, combination ofmechanical and chemical weeding gave highly significant increase inseed cotton yield against untreated check. The interactive effect ofDual Gold 960E + Mechanical weeding resulted in 86.3 and 90.4%broad and narrow leave weeds control over untreated, respectivelyfollowed by Stomp + Mechanical weeding which gave 82.5 and90.5% broad and narrow leave weeds control over untreated,respectively at 30 days after sowing whereas post emergenceweedicide i-e Round Up 490G/L combined with Mechanical weedinggave maximum weed control of 96.0 and 89.5 % broad and narrowleave weeds control over untreated respectively at 60 days aftersowing.