Nutrient uptake by maize (Zea mays L) in traditional weed management methods

Field experiment was conducted to study the influence of various traditional weed management methods on nutrient uptake by maize at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University during kharif 2017. Various traditional inputs like common salt (30%), vinegar (20%) and a preparation of traditional formulation containing cow urine, lemon fruit and dried fruits powder of Terminalia chebula were applied for controlling the weeds. Results revealed that hand weeding twice on 20 and 45 days after sowing (DAS) removed higher amount of nutrients by maize which was merely comparable with post-emergence application of vinegar 20 per cent + hand weeding on 45 DAS. This was followed by early postemergence application of traditional formulation @ 10 l/ha + hand weeding on 45 DAS. All the weed management treatments recorded significantly higher nutrient uptake by maize compared to weedy check.