Weed Management in Intercropped Pigeonpea

Results of field experiment conducted during summer 1985 and 1986 at Kanpur involving pigeonpea based intercropping system and weed control treatment revealed that weed removal through manual labour 35–40 days after sowing recorded an increase of 170 kg/ha in pigeonpea yield, 320 kg/ha in pigeonpea equivalent yield and Rs. 1763/ha in net return. Integration of intercrops viz, blackgram, greengram and cowpea (green fodder) with pigeonpea resulted a decreased weed weight (1700 to 1158 kg/ha) and labour requirement from 35 to 20 per ha (42.8%) and yield advantage of pigeonpea (4.8 to 6.7 per cent) alongwith a bonus yield of blackgram (470 kg/ha), greengram (540 kg/ha) and cowpea green fodder (12.65 t/ha). Application of pendimethalin was found statistically at par to that of manual weeding with respect to grain yiel4 of component crops.