Effect of sowing dates and weed control treatments on weed management and grain yield of greengram under rainfed condition

The field experiment was conducted during 2014–16 in Rabi (winter) season (October - December) at Agricultural Research station, Kovilpatti, Tamil Nadu, India. The treatment combinations comprised of three dates of seeding, viz. last week of September, 2^nd week of October and last week of October in main plot with four weed management treatments, viz. pendimethalin 0.75 kg/ha pre-emergence application (PE) fb hand weeding (HW) on 20 days after seeding (DAS), pendimethalin 0.75 kg/ha PE fb quizalofop-ethyl 50 g/ha post-emergence application (PoE) on 20 DAS, pendimethalin 0.75 kg/ha PE fb imazethapyr 50 g/ha PoE on 20 DAS, imazethapyr 50 g/ha + quizalofop-ethyl 50 g/ha (tank mix) PoE at 20 DAS in the sub plot. The seeding during last week of September registered increased growth and yield parameters, viz. dry matter production (DMP), leaf area index (LAI), number of pods/plants, pod length, number of seeds/pods which reflected on increased grain yield (850 kg/ha). Among the weed management treatments, pendimethalin 0.75 kg/ha PE fb HW on 20 DAS recorded significantly lower weed density and weed biomass which in turn produced increased growth and yield attributes and yield of the crop which was followed by application of pendimethalin 0.75 kg/ha PE fb quizalofopethyl 50 g/ha PoE on 20 DAS.