Crop establishment and weed management effect on weed parameters and rice yield under temperate zone of Kashmir

A field experiment was conducted during Kharif (rainy) seasons of 2017 and 2018 at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Wadura, Jammu and Kashmir. The treatments comprised of three crop establishment methods, viz. transplanting, direct seeding (DSR), System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in main plots and seven weed management practices, viz. butachlor (1500 g/ha), penoxsulam (22.5g/ha), pyrazosulfuron-ethyl + pretilachlor (15 and 600g/ha), bensulfuron methyl + pretilachlor (60 and 600 g/ha), twice conoweeding/hand weeding, weed free and weedy check in subplots replicated thrice in a split plot design. The results revealed that significantly lowest weed density and weed dry weight were recorded with transplanted method as compared to SRI and DSR. Application of penoxsulam 22.5 g/ha recorded significantly the lowest weed population and weed dry matter depicting higher weed control efficiency. SRI had resulted in significantly higher yields over DSR and transplanted rice. Penoxsulam (22.5 g/ha) produced significantly higher grain and straw yields. SRI proved to be better method of crop establishment than transplanting and DSR whereas, application of penoxsulam 22.5 g/ha proved superior to other herbicide treatments used.