SCREENING OF PRE AND POST EMERGENCE HERBICIDES AGAINST CHICKPEA (Cicer arietinum L.) WEEDS UNDER SEMI RAINFED CONDITIONS OF POTHOHAR, PAKISTAN

A field study was carried out to evaluate the performance of pre and post emergence herbicides on weeds and yield and yield components of chickpea variety PJ-91 during the year 2008-09 at Koont Research Farm, Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi under semi rainfed conditions of Pothohar,Pakistan using RCB design having three replications. Two pre emergence herbicides (Stomp 330 EC, Dual gold 960 EC) and two post-emergence herbicides (Puma super 75 EW, Topik 15 WP)were applied including control treatments (weed free and weedycheck). The results of this study showed that maximum seed yield of 401.0 kg ha^-1 was obtained from hand hoeing treatment followed by post emergence herbicide Puma super 75 EW applied@ 1.2 lit ha^-1 with 353.2 kg ha^-1 seed yield against 212.2 kg ha-1from weedy check treatment. The highest yield in top scoring treatment is due to higher number of branches plant-1, number of pods plant-1, number of grains pod-1 and individual grain weight.So from the results of this study it is concluded that hand hoeing can be recommended only for small land holders with sufficient available family labour while, Puma super 75 EW @ 1.2 lit ha^-1 is recommended for control of chickpea weeds under semi aridrainfed conditions.