Studies on Integrated Weed Management in Spring Planted Sugarcane under Tarai Conditions of Uttaranchal

Field experiments were conducted to study the efficacy of different weed management practices in sugarcane during 1997–99. Cyperus rotundus, Cynodon dactylon and Sorghum halepense were the dominating weeds associated with the crop and constituted 42, 21 and 17.5% of total weed population, respectively. One hoeing at 30 days after planting followed by application of atrazine at 2.0 kg ha⁻¹ (just after hoeing) provided 70.5% weed control efficiency. This also resulted in highest cane yield being 49.5% higher than weedy and 2.4% than three hoeings done at 30, 60 and 90 days after planting. The weed infestation did not affect juice sucrose content. Commercial cane sugar yield was highest (10.0 t ha⁻¹) with three hoeings during 1997–98 and with one hoeing fb atrazine (11.0 t ha⁻¹) during 1998–99, though the differences were non-significant.