Comparative efficacy of tank mixture of post emergence herbicides for the control of mixed weed flora in wheat

To find out the comparative efficacy of herbicides for the control of mixed weed flora of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), an experiment was conducted at Research Farm of CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar during Rabi 2011-12 and 2012-13. The experiment comprised of 14 treatments viz., metribuzin (210 g/ha), clodinafop (60 g/ha), pinoxaden (40 g/ha), sulfosulfuron (25 g/ha), tank mixture of metribuzin with clodinafop (210+60 g/ha), Pinoxaden (210+40 g/ha), sulfosulfuron (210+25 g/ha) and fenoxaprop (210+120 g/ha), tank mixture of sulfosulfuron + metsulfuron (32 g/ha), mesosulfuron + iodosulfuron (14.4 g/ha), clodinafop + metsulfuron (60+4 g/ha), isoproturon + 2,4-D (1000+500 g/ha), weedy check and weed free. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with three replications. For effective weed control, weed free treatment and sulfosulfuron + metsulfuron @ 32 g/ha, proved to be the best treatment with minimum weed density and dry weight of weeds; maximum weed densities and weed dry weight were recorded in weedy check. The highest grain yield of wheat was recorded in weed free plot (64.7 and 49.1 q/ha), which was similar to tank mixture of sulfosulfuron + metsulfuron @ 32 g/ha (64.4 and 48.4 q/ha) and these were significantly higher than individual application of herbicides but at pat with other tank mixed herbicides during 2011-12 and 2012-13, respectively. Sulfosulfuron + metsulfuron was also proved to be effective in yield parameters viz. effective tillers (452 and 449 m-2) and 1000-grain weight (42.0 and 40.4 g) during 2011-12 and 2012-13, respectively. In the light of this study the weed free followed by the tank mixture of sulfosulfuron + metsulfuron provided better results for controlling weeds in the wheat. Presence of weeds throughout the growing season brought about 36.0 and 33.6% reduction in grain yield as compared to weed free during 2011-12 and 2012-13, respectively.