EFFECT OF NITROGEN LEVELS AND WEED MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN Kharif PEARLMILLET
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Date
2000
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AAU, Anand
Abstract
A field experiment was conducted at the college agronomy farm, B. A. college of Agriculture, Anand Campus, Anand, to find out the "EFFECT OF NITROGEN LEVELS AND WEED MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN Kharif PEARLMILLET" during Kharif season of 1999. The soil of the experimental plot was loamy sand in texture having good drainage with 7.8 pH. The experiment was laid out in a factorial randomized block design with three replications. Eighteen treatment combinations comprising three levels of nitrogen (40, 80 and 120 kg/ha) and six weed management practices (atrazine @ 0.50 kg/ha PE, atrazine @ 0.75 kg/ha PE, atrazine @ 0.50 kg/ha PE + IC at 30 DAS, atrazine @ 0.50 kg/ha PE + HW at 30 DAS, hand weedings at 15 & 30 DAS and weedy check). The results indicated that increase in nitrogen application increase the dry weight of weeds at harvest significantly. Treatment of 80 kg N/ha (N2) was at par with 120 kg N/ha (N3) in respect of monocot weeds count at 30 DAS, dicot weeds count at 60 DAS and at harvest. Dry weight of monocot, dicot and total weeds at harvest were significantly highest under treatment of 40 kg N/ha (N1). Successive increase in nitrogen application from 40 to 120 kg N/ha increased growth and yield attributes but significant differences were found up to 80 kg N/ha. Application of 80 kg N/ha significantly increased plant height, number of effective tillers per plant, length of earhead, protein content in grains as well as grain and straw yields as compared to 40 kg N/ha. However, plant height and straw yield were significantly increased with increased in nitrogen application up to 120 kg N/ha. Weed management practices significantly lower down the monocot, dicot and total weeds count at 30 and 60 DAS and at harvest. Treatment of atrazine @ 0.75 kg/ha was found to be the superior in reducing monocot, dicot and total weeds (1.10, 1.36 and 2.47/m2, respectively) at 30 DAS. However, treatment of application of (atrazine @ 0.50 kg/ha + HW at 30 DAS) (W4) was recorded significantly the lowest counts of monocot, dicot and total weeds at harvest (0.88, 0.84 and 1.71/m2 at 60 DAS and 1.03, 1.07 and 2.10/m2, respectively). The treatment W4 also recorded significantly the lowest dry weight of monocot, dicot and total weeds (3.78, 7.44 and 11.22 kg/ha, respectively) with 97.4 % weed control efficiency. Growth and yield attributes of pearlmillet crop was also significantly influenced by weed management practices. Treatment of two HW at 15 and 30 DAS (W5) recorded significantly higher plant height (91.24 cm) at 30 DAS than rest of the treatment except treatment W4, while the treatment W4 (atrazine @ 0.50 kg/ha + HW at 30 DAS) recorded significantly higher plant height (228.77 and 231.62 cm, respectively) at 60 DAS and at harvest than rest of the treatments except treatment W5. Treatment W4 (atrazine @ 0.50 kg/ha + HW at 30 DAS) significantly increased number of effective tillers per plant and length of earhead than rest of the treatments except W5. While treatment W5 (HW at 15 and 30 DAS) increased the internodes per plant, test weight, protein content of grains and grain and straw yields as compared to other treatments. During the course of investigation, interaction effect N x W revealed that treatment combination N3W2 at 30 DAS and N2W4 at 60 DAS and at harvest recorded significantly the lowest monocot, dicot and total weeds. Further it was foimd significant in respect to some growth and yield attributes also. Treatment combination N2W5 recorded the highest plant height at 30 DAS (97 cm), while N3W4 was found significantly superior at 60 DAS and at harvest recording plant height of 253.86 and 255.20 cm, respectively. The treatment combinations N2W4 and N3W4 recorded maximum length of earheads (20.40 cm) and protein content of grains (14.03 %), respectively. However, the interaction effect N x W was found not significant for grain and straw yields of pearlmillet crop. Looking to the economics of various treatment combinations, N2W4 realized maximum net profit (Rs. 23823) as well as CBR (1:3.18). Application of 80 kg N/ha (N2) recorded higher net realization (Rs.16088 /ha) and highest CBR values (1:2.63), while weed management practices treatment W4 recorded maximum net realization (Rs. 21491 /ha) and CBR values (1:2.95).
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Agronomy, Agriculture, A CASE STUDY