Effect of plant geometry and weed management on growth and yield of fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) under semi-arid conditions of Rajasthan

A field experiment was conducted on loamy sand soil the winter season (rabi) seasons of 2016–17 and 2017– 18 at Agronomy Farm, Jobner, to study the influence of different plant geometries (50 cm × 20 cm, 50 cm × 25 cm, 60 cm × 15 cm and 60 cm × 20 cm) and weed-management measures [(weedy check, 2 hand-weedings (HW) at 25 and 50 days after sowing (DAS), pendimethalin @ 0.75 kg/ha pre-emergence (PE), oxadiargyl @ 75 g/ha (PE), pendimethalin @ 0.75 kg/ha (PE) + 1 HW at 30 DAS and oxadiargyl @ 75 g/ha (PE) + 1 HW at 30 DAS)] on growth, yield attributes and yield of fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) The fennel crop sown at wider plant geometry (60 cm × 20 cm) significantly improved the growth (except plant height) and yield attributes over the rest of the treatments. The highest seed (2.21 t/ha) and straw yields (7.45 t/ha) were obtained with plant geometry 60 cm × 20 cm. Among the weed-management practices, HW twice at 25 and 50 DAS significantly improved the growth, yield attributes, yield and net returns over the weedy check treatment. Results indicated that, HW twice at 25 and 50 DAS gave significantly highest seed (2.23 t/ha), straw yield (7.28 t/ha), net returns (99,945/ha) and benefit: cost ratio (4.31). The next best treatment in terms of these parameter pendimethalin @ 0.75 kg/ha (PE) + 1 HW at 30 days. The highest weed-control efficiency (86.75%) was shown by HW twice at 25 and 50 DAS.