Weed management in transplanted finger millet with pre-and postemergence herbicides

A field experiment was conducted during Rabi (winter season), 2020-21 at wetland farm of S.V. Agricultural College, Tirupati campus of Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Andhra Pradesh, India to identify suitable pre-and post-emergence herbicide for managing weeds and enhancing productivity and profitability of transplanted finger millet. The hand weeding (HW) twice at 20 and 40 days after transplanting (DAT) resulted in lower density and biomass with higher weed control efficiency, grain yield, and benefit-cost ratio. It was closely followed by pre-emergence application (PE) of pretilachlor 500 g/ha or pyrazosulfuron-ethyl 15 g/ha. Post-emergence application (PoE) of penoxsulam 20 g/ha resulted in higher grain yield and benefit-cost ratio with broad-spectrum weed control among the post-emergence herbicides. The weeds in unweeded check reduced the grain yield by 64.39% compared to HW twice.