Integration of chemical and cultural methods for weed management in groundnut

A field experiment was conducted to study the integrated weed management in groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) for consecutive two Kharif seasons in 2010 and 2011 at Rahuri with combination of 12 weed management treatments in three replications. Weed free check (two hand weeding at 20 and 40 DAS and manually uprooting of weeds at 60 DAS) was found more effective to control weeds in groundnut and recorded lowest weed density, wed dry matter and weed index and highest weed control efficiency. It was also recorded significantly highest growth and yield attributes in groundnut over all the other treatments viz. plant height, dry matter weight of plant, number of pods/plant and pod yield/hectare. Though highest gross monetary returns ( 1,09,845/ha) was recorded in treatment weed free check, maximum net monetary returns ( 61,460/ha) and B:C ratio (2.42) were recorded in the treatment application of pendimethalin 1.5 kg/ha as pre-emergence + imazethapyr 0.150 kg/ha as post-emergence + one hand weeding at 40 DAS which was found most economically feasible weed management practice for groundnut.