Effect of post-emergence herbicides on yield and economics of sesame (Sesamum indicum)

An experiment was conducted during the rainy (kharif) seasons of 2013 and 2014 at Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, to study effect of post-emergence herbicides on yield and economics of sesame (Sesamum indicum L.). The experiment was laid out in a randomzied block design (RBD) replicated thrice, with 8 treatments. Sesame variety ‘TKG 22’ was grown by adopting recommended package of practices except weed-control measures which were applied as per treatments. Two hand-weedings at 20 and 40 days after sowing (DAS) gave significantly higher weed control efficiency (94.14%), followed by propaquizafop @ 125 g a.i./ha (69.51%) over rest of the weed-control treatments. Pooled results showed significantly higher growth and yield attributes and seed yield (718 kg/ha), stalk yield (3, 243 kg/ha), gross income ( 73.4 × 10³), net income ( 47.3 × 10³) and benefit: cost ratio (2.82) under 2 hand-weeding at 20 and 40 DAS over rest of the weed-control treatments, followed by propaquizafop @ 50 g a.i./ha. Application of propaquizafop @ 125 g a.i./ha produced phytotoxicity on sesame plants and subsequently affected the growth attributes in crop; however, symptoms of chlorosis disappeared 25–30 days after application of herbicides.