Chemical weed management in gladiolus (Gladiolus grandiflorus)

An experiment was carried out for three consecutive years from 2011 to 2013 at Floricultural Research Station, Hyderabad to find out efficient and economically feasible chemicals for weed control in Gladiolus. Among four pre-emergence herbicides i.e Atrazine, Metribuzin, Butachlor and Pendimethalin each at two different concentrations, the highest weed control efficiency at 75 DAP(63.7%) was achieved with Pendimethalin applied at 1 kg a.i/ha followed by Metribuzin 0.5 kg a.i/ha (63.2%). Though Pendimethalin @ 0.75 kg a.i/ha was effective in controlling the weeds as well as promoting growth and flower quality of the crop, the highest gross monetary returns per hectare and maximum B:C ratio was achieved with Butachlor@1.5kga.i/ha with highest corm yield of 1,66,250 corms per ha.