Assessment of Chemical and Manual Weed Control Approaches for Effective Weed Suppression and Maize Productivity Enhancement Under Maize-Wheat Cropping System

Effective weed management in maize-wheat (M-W) cropping systems are accountable for higher yield and plant biomass. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of manual weeding and chemicals (pre- and post-emergence herbicide) for actual weed control to enhance maize yield and M‑W system productivity. Herbicides were treated as pre-emergence (sole), post-emergence (sole) and its combined application (pre- and post-emergence) for weed eradication and suppression. Sole pre-emergence herbicide (acetyclour + atrazine) and sole post-emergence herbicides (nicosulfuron), and its mixed application were used in the experiments. The experiment was comprised on 6 treatments with one weedy check or control plot: W1 = weedy check, W2 = acetyclour + atrazine, W3 = atrazine, W4 = nicosulfuron, W5 = nicosulfuron + atrazine, W6 = acetyclour + atrazine + nicosulfuron and W7 = manual weeding. Main weeds were Cyperus rotundus, Tribulus terrestris, Dactyloctenium aegyptium and Cynodon dactylon. Experiential findings revealed that manual weeding was found most effective in terms of controlling weed and suppression. Among the herbicides application, promising results in terms of weed destruction and suppression were shown by combined application of acetyclour + atrazine + nicosulfuron which effectively controlled weeds as compared to other treatments. It was concluded that manual weeding drastically reduced weeds frequency and biomass while among the herbicides application acetyclour + atrazine and nicosulfuron could be promising for weeds suppression and clamp downing as compared to all other treatments under M‑W cropping system.