MULCHING: A MANAGEMENT PRACTICE FOR WEEDS IN MAIZE

A field experiment was conducted to determine the effect of different mulching treatments on weeds in maize. The experiment was done at the New Developmental Farm, University of Agriculture Peshawar during summer in 2011. A local maize variety “(Azam)” was sown in Randomized Complete Block Design having seven treatments (farmyard manure, chicken manure, black plastic, white plastic, hand weeding, chopped eucalyptus and weedy check). Data were recorded for weed density (m^-2), relative weed density (%), 1000 kernel weight (g), number of kernel ear^-1 and grain yield (kg ha^-1). Data analysis revealed that the maximum grain yield (5465 kg ha^-1) was recorded for hand weeding treatment and for black plastic treatment (4811.6 kg ha^-1) and white plastic (4146.4 kg ha^-1), while the minimum grain yield was recorded for weedy check (2498 kg ha^-1). Weedy check resulted in highest weed density (239.50 m^-2) followed by eucalyptus (165 m^-2) and chicken manure (132.70 m^-2) while the lowest weed density (51.83 m^-2) were recorded for hand weeding. The maximum relative weed density (RWD) was recorded for Cyperus rotundus L. (45.21%) followed by Echinochloa crus-galli L. (31.60), while the minimum RWD for Convolvulus arvensis L. (1.71). Maximum 1000-kerenal weight (296.67 g) was recorded for hand weeding followed by the black plastic (275.33 g), while the minimum 1000-kerenal weight (194.33 g) for weedy check. Maximum number of kernel ear^-1 (385.03) was recorded for hand weeding treatment followed by the black plastic (360.13) and for the white plastic treatment (336.7). However, the minimum number of kernel ear^-1 (212.87) was recorded for weedy check. In conclusion the results indicated that after hand weeding, black plastic controlled weed and increased yield in better way as compared to other treatments. Thus in small maize fields plastic mulch is recommended to be used for achieving best results.