Effect of Post-Emergence Herbicides on Control of Weeds in Tomato During Kharif Season Prabukumar G* Department of Millets, Center for Plant Breeding and GeneticsTamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore641003Tamil Nadu, India *Email for correspondence: gprabukumar@yahoo.co.in
Online Published on 12 September, 2022. Abstract Field experiments were conducted at western block of Horticultural College and Research Institute, Periyakulam, Tamil Nadu during kharif season of 2013-2014 to evaluate the performance of pre- and post-emergence herbicides on control of weeds in tomato. The major weed flora of the experimental fields constituted of grasses, sedges and broadleaved weeds. The broadleaved weeds were found to be predominant followed by sedges and grasses throughout the crop growth period. Two grasses Cynodon dactylon and Panicum repens and four broadleaved weeds Trianthema portulacastrum, Euphorbia geniculata, Boerhavia diffusa, Parthenium hysterophorus and Cyperus rotundus were observed in the experimental fields. Eleven treatments were evaluated in randomized block design with 3 replications. The tomato variety PKM 1 was used for the experiments. The recommended dose of N:P:K 150:100:50 kg/ha was applied to all plots at transplanting. The herbicides were applied as per treatments. It was found that treatments comprising T8 [Oxyfluorfen 0.25 kg ai/ha (PE) + metribuzin 0.15 kg ai/ha (POE) on 30 DAT] and T4 [Oxyfluorfen 0.25 kg ai/ha (PE) + hand weeding on 30 DAT] were superior to all other treatments. After 25 DAS, minimum weed density was recorded in T8 (2.6/m2) and T4 (2.9/m2). Minimum weed dry weight was also recorded in T8 and T4 (4.2 and 4.5 g/m2 respectively). At 50 DAT, minimum weed density was recorded in T4 (3.0/m2) and T8 (3.2/m2). Minimum weed dry weight was recorded in T4, T8 and T6 (3.7, 4.0 and 4.4 g/m2 respectively). Weed control efficiency was maximum in T4 (92.5%) followed by T8 (91.0%). Single fruit weight was maximum in T4, T8 and T6 (18.6, 17.9 and 17.1 g respectively) and maximum yield was recorded in T4, T8 and T6 (20.6, 19.8 and 18.5 tons/ha respectively). Net return was recorded maximum in T8 (Rs 1,11,748/ha) followed by T4 (Rs 1,10,118/ha). Highest B- C ratio was recorded in T8 (3.40) followed by T6 (3.31). Top Keywords Herbicides, Tomato, Weeds, Grasses, Sedges, Broadleaved weeds. Top |