Nodulation and Yield Response of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L) to Pre and Post Emergence Herbicides

To assess the integrated effect of herbicide mixtures on nodulation, yield attributes and yields of chickpea and to determine the economic feasibility of different weed management practices in chickpea, a field experiment was conducted at ARS, Kalaburagi during rabi season. Nine treatments were applied and arranged in a randomized block design with three replications. The results revealed that higher weed dry biomass and lower plant height were obtained in weedy check plots. The plants weed free check recorded higher nodules than herbicide treated. Higher number of pod plant-1, number of seeds pod-1 and yield-1 ha were observed in weed free check (Hand weeding). The weed management practices revealed that hand weeding (Weed free check) gave the highest nodule dry weight (43.73mg plant-1) followed by pendimethalin + inter cultivation (35 mg plant-1) at 60 DAS. The maximum grain yield (997 kg ha-1) was recorded in weed free check followed by pendimetheline + inter cultivation (974 kg ha-1). Therefore, managing the weeds with the application of herbicides recorded lower nodulation, plant parameters (viz., plant height, dry weight, and pods per plant) and yield. However, in a situation of unavailability of herbicide on time, hand weeding and inter cultivation seemed to be an alternate weed management practice.