COMPARATIVE EFFICACY OF NEW HERBICIDES FOR WEED CONTROL IN MAIZE (Zea mays L.)

The experiment was conducted at Agronomic Research Institute, Faisalabad, Pakistan during 2008 and 2009, to study the comparative efficacy of new herbicides to control weeds in autumn planted maize. Four pre-emergence herbicides i.e. Dual gold 960EC (s-metolachlor) @ 2.0 L, Field Master 960EC (metolachlor) @ 2.0 L, Stomp 330E (pendimethalin) @ 3.0 L and Razer 33EC (pendimethalin) @ 3.0 L ha -1 ; and three post emergence herbicides i.e. Primextra gold 720SC (atrazine + s - metolachlor) @ 1.0 L, Supermix 42SE (atrazine + acetochlor) @ 2.5 L, Click 72.4SE (atrazine+acetochlor) @ 1.5 L ha -1 were included. Manual hoeing (Two hoeings) and control (untreated) treatments were also included for comparison. Amongst pre emergence herbicides, weed control efficiency (WCE) of Dual gold 960EC @ 2.0 L ha -1 and Field Master 960EC were 88.44 and 78.89% and weed indices (WI) were 1.17 and 1.92%, respectively. While among the post emergence herbicides, Primextra gold 720SC @ 1.0 L ha -1 and Click 72.4SE @1.5 L ha -1 WCE 80.90 and 94.98 % and WIs were 3.52 and 3.57%, respectively; while WCE of 89.95% was recorded in manual hoeing treatment. Similarly, among herbicides; maximum grain yield of maize was recorded with the application of Dual gold 960EC @ 2.0 L ha -1 and Field Master 960 EC @ 2.0 L ha -1 during both the years of experiments due to better weed control as compared to other herbicides.