Economics of practicing integrated weed management in blackgram

Field investigation was carried out during kharif seasons of 2003 and 2004 at National Pulses Research Centre, Vamban to find out the integrated effect of application of lower dose of pre-emergence herbicide pendimethalin and hand weeding at three seed rates, on the growth, and yield and weed population in blackgram (VBN (Bg)4). The results revealed that integration of chemical, mechanical and cultural methods of weed control markedly influenced the yield and economics of blackgram. The pooled analysis of grain yield data revealed that pre-emergence application of pendimethalin @ 0.75 kg ai/ha + hand weeding on 40 DAS + normal seed rate recorded higher grain yield of 753 kg/ha and highest benefit cost ratio