Assessment of Herbicides and Mulches on Morphological, Phenological and Yield Attributing Characters in Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) cv. Ankur Gomti

A field experiment was conducted at Vegetable Research Farm, Department of Horticulture, JNKVV, Jabalpur (M.P.) during Kharif season 2013–14. The experiment consisting of 11 treatments including herbicides and mulching on Cowpea cv. Ankur Gomti seeds were sowing in plots (2.7 X 3.0 sq. m.) using Randomized Complete Block design with 3 replications. The results revealed that, significantly higher pod yield (99.62 q ha⁻¹) was obtained from weed free check (hand weeding) at 20, 45 DAS over other treatments. The minimum pod yield (54.11 q ha⁻¹) was obtained from non weeded (control). The minimum weed biomass was found in T₁ (mulching with black polythene) exhibited lowest (49.96 g/m²) followed by T₁₀ weedy free check (hand weeding) (64.97 g/m²), However, the maximum (347.75 g/m²) weed biomass was observed in T₁₁ non weeded (control). The maximum (85.63%) weed control efficiency was observed in the treatment T₁ (mulching with black polythene) followedby T₁₀ weedy free check (hand weeding) (81.31%). The maximum reduction in weeds and increase in pod yield was noted in T₁₀ weed free check (hand weeding) and it had weed competition index of (0.00%) followed by T₁ (mulching with black polythene) (3.58%), However, the maximum (45.51%) weed competition index was noted in treatment T₁₁ non weeded (control). The maximum net return of Rs. 64670/ha and highest cost benefit ratio of 1:2.85 were found with the treatment of weed free check (hand weeding) at 20, 45 DAS followed by mulching with black polythene (net return of Rs 60090/ha and cost benefit ratio of 1:2.67.