On farm assessment of ready mix herbicide combinations for broad-spectrum weed control in wheat

Farmers led on-farm trials were conducted in Morar and Bhitarwar blocks of district Gwalior during Rabi seasons of the year 2014–15 and 2015–16 in K.V.K. adopted villages to validate, refine and popularize the technologies recommended by Directorate of Weed Research, Jabalpur for managing grassy and broad-leaf weeds in wheat. Application of clodinafop + metsulfuron (60 + 2 g/ha) caused significant reduction in total weed counts (28.6 and 40.8/m²) and weed dry weight (3.5 and 4.2 g/m²) over farmer's practice (2,4-D at 500 g/ha) as it reduced the population of both grassy and broad-leaved weeds and produced the highest weed control efficiency (83 and 82.6%) over application of sulfosulfuron + metsulfuron (30 + 2 g/ha) (70.87 and 76.03%) and farmers’ practice during both the year. Recommended practice of clodinafop + metsulfuron (60 + 2 g/ha) gave significantly higher grain yield (4.10 and 4.71 t/ha) over sulfosulfuron + metsulfuron (30 + 2 g/ha) and farmers practice. There were 21.42 and 22.46 and 12.18 and 9.87% increase in grain yield over farmers’ practice respectively under clodinafop + metsulfuron (60 + 2 g/ha) and sulfosulfuron + metsulfuron (30 + 2 g/ha) during the year 2014–15 and 2015–16. The highest net returns ( 51003 and 65267/ha) and B:C ratio (2.78 and 3.45) were recorded under recommended practice of clodinafop + metsulfuron (60 + 2 g/ha).