Effect of Weed Management Practices on Productivity and Profitability of Organic Baby Corn (Zea mays L.)

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Date
2021
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MPUAT, Udaipur
Abstract
A field experiment entitled “Effect of Weed Management Practices on Productivity and Profitability of Organic Baby Corn (Zea mays L.)” was conducted during kharif, 2020-21 at Instructional Agronomy Farm of Rajasthan College of Agriculture, MPUAT, Udaipur. The soil texture of the experimental field was clay loam in texture with 254.81, 19.31 and 270.88 kg ha-1 available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, respectively in 0-30 cm soil depth. The experiment consisted of twelve treatments T1- stale seedbed preparation fb interculture at 20 DAS fb mechanical weeding at 40 DAS; T2-stale seedbed preparation fb straw mulch (5 t ha-1) at 20 DAS fb interculture at 20 das fb hand weeding at 40 DAS; T3- stale seedbed preparationfb plastic mulch at sowing;T4- soil solarization fb interculture at 20 DAS fb mechanical weeding at 40 DAS; T5- soil solarization fb straw mulch (5 t ha-1) at 20 DAS fb interculture at 20 DAS fb hand weeding at 40 DAS; T6- soil solarization fb plastic mulch at sowing;T7- stale seedbed preparation fb sesbania as smothering crop in between rows and used same as mulch after 30 days fb one hand weeding at 40 DAS;T8- soil solarization fb sesbania as smothering crop in between rows and used same as mulch after 30 days fb one hand weeding at 40 DAS;T9- Interculture at 20 DAS fb straw mulch (5 t ha-1); T10- Interculture at 20 DAS fb mechanical weeding at 40 DAS; T11-straw mulch (5t ha-1) at 20 DAS + hand weeding at 20 days;T12- weedy check. The twelve treatments were replicated thrice in Randomize Block Design. Baby corn variety G-5414 was used as test crop. All the weed management practices resulted in significant reduction in density and dry matter of both categories and total weeds at different growth stages in baby corn crop. Despite variations amongst organic weed management practices in respect of control of broadleaf and grassy weeds, the combination of different practices brought about maximum degree of reduction in total weeds compared to weedy check. The maximum total weed control efficiencies (100 per cent) were achieved by using T3 -soil solarization fb plastic mulch at sowing and T6 -stale seedbed preparation fb plastic mulch at sowing.A significant increase in plant height and dry matter accumulation at 30, 45 DAS and at harvest, number of cobs plant-1, cob length, cob girth, baby corn cob yield with and without husk, green fodder yield and biological yield, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content in baby corn cob and stover and their uptake was observed with the T3 -soil solarization fb plastic mulch at sowing.Maximum soil microbial biomass (bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes) was obtained by T7-stale seedbed preparation fb sesbania as smothering crop in between rows and used same as mulch after 30 days fb one hand weeding at 40 DAS (21.91 x 105 cfu g-1 soil). Maximum baby corn cob yield with and without husk (67.67 and 19.33 q ha-1) was acquired by controlling weeds by T3 -soil solarization fb plastic mulch at sowing which was at par with that obtained by T6 -stale seedbed preparation fb plastic mulch at sowing (66.30 and 18.94 q ha-1). As a consequence, significantly higher net returns (` 95508 ha-1) were obtained by T3 -soil solarization fb plastic mulch at sowing which were at par with T2- stale seedbed fb straw mulch (5 t ha-1) at 20 DAS fb interculture at 20 DAS fb hand weeding at 40 DAS (` 83925). Alike net return, the highest BC ratio (2.40) was obtained by T9 - inter culture at 20 DAS fb straw mulch (5 t ha-1). Application of different organic weed management practices had no significant effect on available nitrogen, phosphorus content potassium of soil after harvest of baby corn crop.
Description
Effect of Weed Management Practices on Productivity and Profitability of Organic Baby Corn
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Citation
Shubha MR And Choudhary R.
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