Evaluating the Effects of Herbicide on Growth, Yield and Soil Attributes of Maize Crop in the Trans-Gangetic Region

Pesticides have been used extensively in agriculture to control pests, plants, weeds, insects and other species that can harm crop plants. Pesticides are wide words for substances that are used to eradicate undesired organisms from crops in order to preserve or increase crop yield. Herbicide application requires technical ability in the selection of a specific herbicide, the safe application dose and the application method. The current study aimed to study the effect of pre-emergence and postemergence herbicides on the growth and soil attributes of maize.

The experimental site was East which falls under the central plain zone of agro-climatic zones of Punjab. It comprised 10 treatments of different herbicide combinations. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with three replications. Maize variety PMH-13 was used as a test crop and sown in July 2022 at a row spacing of 60×20 cm. Results revealed that (T8) Atrazine @ 0.50 kg ai/ha + pendimethalin @ 1 kg ai/ha (Tank mix) (PE) fb HW at 20 DAS was the most superior herbicide treatment in increasing plant height, number of leaves, crop dry matter accumulation, stem girth, chlorophyll content, cob length, cob girth, with soil attributes.

The highest grain yield (59.0 q/ha) and stover (117.06 q/ha) of maize were also recorded under Atrazine @ 0.50 kg ai/ha + pendimethalin @ 1 kg ai/ha (Tank mix) (PE) fb hand weeding at 20 DAS. Atrazine pre-emergence application at a dosage of 1 kg ai/ha resulted in faster growth and lower weed density at 20 DAS. T8, which is atrazine @ 0.50 kg ai/ha + pendimethalin @ 1 kg ai/ha (Tank mix) (PE) fb HW at 20 DAS, is suggested for increased grain yield in the Trans Gangatic region based on performance.