Efficacy of new herbicides against grass weeds in wheat (Triticum aestivum) under mid-hill conditions of Himachal Pradesh

A field experiment was conducted during the winter (rabi) seasons of 1997–98 and 1998–99 at Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur. Clodinafop-propargyl 0.15 kg/ha being at par with diclofop-methyl 0.80 kg/ha, produced significantly lower weed dry weight and higher number of effective tillers/m row, grains/spike and 1,000-grain weight and hence significantly higher grain yield. Clodinafop-propargyl 0.10 kg/ha, tralkoxydim 0.40 kg/ha and phenoxaprop-p-ethyl 0.10 kg/ha were also effective in reducing the weed population and dry weight and in increasing yield attributes and grain yield significantly over the remaining treatments. Metribuzin 0.25 kg/ha though controlled all the grassy and broad-leaf weeds effectively, caused higher toxicity to the crop particularly during the first year and resulted in the lower values of yield attributes and the grain yield. Sulfosulfuron did not control grass weeds effectively and hence resulted in the lowest yield compared with all the other weed-control treatments