Weed management in blackgram [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper] during wet season in North Central Plateau Zone of Odisha

A field study was conducted at Regional Research and Technology Transfer Station, Keonjhar, Odisha during kharif seasons of 2013 and 2014 to evaluate the performance of different weed management practices involving pre-and post-emergence herbicides in blackgram [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper]. Among all the weed management practices, pre-emergence application of pre-mix combination of pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75 kg/ha followed by one manual weeding at 35 days after sowing (DAS) produced the maximum weed control efficiency, yield attributes and seed yield and it was comparable to two hand weedings at 20 and 35 DAS in both the years (2013 and 2014) of study. Among herbicidal treatments, the lowest weed dry matter, highest weed control efficiency (WCE), yield attributes and seed yield was recorded with pre-emergence application of pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75 kg/ha fb quizalofop ethyl 50 g/ha at 20 DAS which was statistically at par with pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75 kg/ha fb manual weeding and two manual weedings at 20 and 35DAS in the year 2014. The yield increment by application of pendimethalin 30 EC + imazethapyr 2 EC @ 0.75 kg/ha fb manual weeding was to the tune of 109 and 102% in 2013 and 2014 respectively, over weedy check. This treatment also produced highest number of pods/plant (32.7 and 22.6 in 2013 and 2014 respectively) and seeds/pod (6.9 and 6.3 in 2013 and 2014 respectively). This treatment also recorded the maximum gross return ( 37, 672/ha), net return ( 17, 049/ha) and return/rupee invested (1.83).