RESPONSE OF ONION CROP TO VARIOUS ECO-FRIENDLY WEED MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES AT PESHAWAR PAKISTAN

A field experiment was carried out at the Horticulture Research Farm, the University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan in the year 2014 in order to evaluate the effect of different sowing orientations, plant spacing and weed control treatments on onion yield and its infesting weeds. A three factorial RCBD experimental design was used for the experiment replicated three times. Factor A was termed as the sowing direction with two orientations (i.e. North-South and East-West), factor B included plant spacing (10, 15 and 20 cm) while factor C included the treatments of Rumex crispus as mulch, Euphorbia helioscopia as mulch, a hand weeded treatment and a weedy control. Data were taken on weed density m^-2, weed biomass (fresh) (kg ha^-1), biological yield (t ha^-1), and bulb yields (t ha^-1). Results of the experiment showed that sowing orientation, plant spacing, weed mulches and some of their interactions significantly affetced the studied parameters. Sowing orientation in E-W direction showed significant increase in weed density (113.50 m^-2), and weed biomass ha^-1 (1381.90 kg) whereas N-S direction resulted in increased biological yield ha^-1 (30.09 tons) and bulb yield ha-1 (20.07 tons). Plant spacing also significantly affected growth and yield components. Different levels of plant spacing (20 cm) showed significant increase in weed density m^-2 (119.83) and weed biomass (1405 kg ha^-1), while plant spacing of 10 cm resulted in increased biological yield (30.44 t ha^-1), and bulb yields (20.34 t ha^-1). Whereas minimum weed density m^-2 (86.42) and weed biomass (1156 kg ha^-1) were obtained at 10 cm spacing among the seedlings of onion crop. Among the treatments of weed control, weedy check resulted in highest weed density m^-2 (159.67) and weed biomass (2183.4 kg ha-1) while hand weeding resulted in highest biological yield (33.23 t ha^-1) and bulb yield (22.48 tons ha-1) while lowest biological yield t ha^-1 (18.71) and bulb yield ha^-1 (11.31 tons) were recorded in weed check. It was thus concluded that sowing in the North-South direction along with 10 cm spacing among onion seedlings and the mulching method of Rumex crispus could be the best environment friendly weed management program for enhancement in onion yield in Peshawar (a lower elevation) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan.