Growth and yield attributes of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) as influenced by tank-mix application of early post emergence herbicides

Groundnut or peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is known as the ‘king’ of oilseeds. It is one of the most important food and cash crop of India. Among different constraints that limit the productivity of groundnut, weed menace is one of the serious bottlenecks. A field experiment was conducted at Perunthalaivar Kamaraj Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Puducherry during 2019 to 2020 to study the tank mix application of post-emergence herbicides for efficient weed control in Groundnut.

The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with 13 treatments and replicated thrice. The treatments consisted of weed management practices viz., pre emergence herbicide pendimethalin and post emergence herbicide viz., imazethapyr, quizalofopethyl and those herbicides used either alone or combined with hand weeding once. In addition, hand weedings twice at 15 and 30 DAS were tested with unweeded check.

The experiment results of the two years study revealed that the Pendimethalin @ 1.5 kg ai ha^-1 (PE) + tank mix of Imazethpyr (40%) + Quizalofop ethyl (60%) at 20-30 DAS recorded maximum plant height (58.17 cm), DMP (36.81 g plant^-1), Significantly higher pod yield (3752 kg ha^-1), highest net income (90,762 ha^-1) and B:C ratio (2.80). Correlation and Regression analysis also indicated that the yield attributes had a positive impact on groundnut yield.