Effect of weed control on productivity of sesame

A field experiment was conducted at Research farm of College of Agriculture, Tikamgarh to study the effect of herbicides on growth, yield and economics of Sesame. Ten treatments comprised of pre emergence herbicides viz. oxyfluorfen at 250 and 500 g/ha, pendimethalin at 200, 400, 600, 800 and 1000 g/ha, one hand weeding at 15 DAS + one hand hoeing at 30 DAS, two hand weedings and weedy check in randomized block design replicated thrice. The hand weeding twice at 15 and 30 DAS recorded significantly the lowest weed density as well as weed biomass and the highest seed yield (308.33 kg/ha) followed by one hand weeding + one hoeing (308.33 kg/ha). Oxyfluorfen @ 250 & 500 g a.i./ha registered significantly lower weed intensity and dry weight over pendimethalin and weedy check. The highest net monetary return was obtained with two hand weedings whereas the B: C ratio was the highest with the application of oxyfluorfen at 250 g a.i./ha followed by oxyfluorfen at 500 g a.i./ha and pendimethalin at 600 g a.i./ha.