Department of Agronomy, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad-5, India.
An investigation to study the effect of soil solarization on weed control and its after effects on growth and yield of groundnut on red soil at Main Research Station, VAS, Dharwad was conducted during kharif 1995. The results showed that the magnitude of rise in the soil temperature of solarized treatments ranged from 11.00 to 14.9°C, 5.0 to 6.7°C and 2.9 to 3.5°C due to transparent polyethylene (TP) 0.05 mm, TP 0.1 mm and black polyethylene (BP) 0.125 mm, respectively in wet soil situation over non-solarized treatinents. There was a significant reduction in weed count and dry weight of weeds even upto the harvest of groundnut due to solarization with transparent polyethylene TP (0.05 mm) for 60 days in wet soil and recorded higher yield over other treatments except weed free treatment. The transparent polyethylene of 0.05 mm thickness was superior to that of 0.1 mm thickness. The performance of black polyethylene and solarization for shorter durations in dry soil was on par with non-solarized control.
