Weed management in Brassica species

A field study on weed management in Brassica species was carried out during 1995–96 and 1996–97. The Brassica species did not influence the weed intensity and their dry matter in any season of the experiment but weed-management treatments decreased the weed population and dry weight and consequently increased the weed-control efficiency, yield attributes, seed yield and mean net returns over weedy check. During both years-the maximum seed yield (1,705 and 1,945 kg/ha) was recorded in weed-free, followed by 2 manual weedings at 25 and 45 days after sowing (1,593 and 1,792 kg/ha) which was found most effective in controlling the weeds compared with other treatments. Among the herbicides, pre-emergence application of pendimethalin @ 1.0 kg a.i./ha recorded higher seed yield and found best substitute of repeated manual weeding where the labour costs are too high.