Effect of weed management practices on productivity and profitability of jute fibre Jena Sarika2, Kumar Mukesh*,1,2, Mitra Sabyasachi1,2, Paikray R.K.2, Ghorai A.K.1,2 2Jute Research Station, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Kendrapara, Odisha, 754 211 1ICAR-Central Research for Jute and Allied Fibres, Barrackpore, Kolkata, 700120 *Corresponding author: mukesh.agro@gmail.com
Abstract A field experiment was conducted at Kendrapara, Odisha to find out suitable and cost effective weed management practices for jute. Different doses of pre-emergence butachlor (both liquid and granule formulation) and post-emergence (quizalofop-ethyl) herbicides followed by (fb) one hand weeding (HW) were tested in jute crop and the treatment effects were compared with unweeded and two hand weeding treatments. Application of quizalofop-ethyl 60 g/ha at 20 days after crop emergence (DAE) followed by one HW at 15–20 days after herbicide application recorded higher weed control efficiency (78.3%), plant height (351 cm), basal diameter (1.40 cm) and fiber yield (2.9 t/ha) of jute as well as higher B:C ratio (2.13) compared to other weed control treatments. Values of the said parameters recorded with the quizalofop- ethyl treatment were statistically at par with those recorded with two hand weeding. Butachlor 1.5 kg/ha fb one HW at 20 DAE was the next best treatment with respect to weed control efficiency (68.7%), plant height (341.0 cm), basal diameter (1.39 cm), fibre yield (2.64 t/ha), and B:C ratio (1.99). Thus application of pre-emergence herbicide butachlor 1.5 kg/ha or post-emergence herbicide quizalofop-ethyl 60 g/ha in combination with one manual weeding may be recommended to the jute growers as more effective and economic weed control practices compared to the existing manual weeding practice. Top Keywords Butachlor, Quizalofop-ethyl, Jute, Weed control efficiency, Weed management, Yield. Top |