Effect of Weed and Nutrient Management on Weed Growth and Productivity of Maize (Zea mays L.)

Field investigations were carried out during kharif 1997 and 1998 at Udaipur (Rajasthan) to evaluate the effect of weed and nutrient management on weed control and productivity of maize. The experiment consisted of six weed management treatments in main plot and five nutrient management treatments in sub-plot which were replicated four times in split plot design. Results of the experiment revealed that atrazine at 0.5 kg ha−1 as preemergence+intercultivation at 35 DAS significantly reduced the total weed density and weed dry weight over all weed control treatments except intercultivation at 20 and 35 DAS. This treatment also gave maximum valuse of crop dry matter accumulation, number of cobs plant−1, grain weight cob−1, test weight and grain yield of maize. The mean weed control efficiency of this treatment was recorded 80.55% with 92.84% increase in maize grain yield compared to weedy check. Amongst different nutrient management treatments FYM involving treatments increased the density of most dominating monocot weed Echinochloa colonum and total weed density as compared to all other treatments. Similar trend was also recorded in respect of dry weight of weeds. Application of 150% recommended dose of fertilizer gave the highest values for growth and yield parameters as well as grain yield of maize closely followed by 125% recommended dose. Application of 100% recommended dose of fertilizer+FYM 10 t ha−1 also resulted in significant increase in grain yield of maize over 100% recommended fertilizer levels during either years of research.