Effect of Different Weed Management Practices on Growth Characters of Chickpea in Mid-hills of Himachal Pradesh, India

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is one of the most important pulse legumes in many parts of the world. India is largest producer of chickpea in the world, sharing 65 and 70 % of the total global area and production, respectively. Different weed control practices use of herbicides were followed for better management. Application of herbicide at critical growth stages followed by one or two hand weeding at proper time or manipulation of row spacing for improving the weed suppressing effect of crops gives marginal improvement in crop yield. A field experiment titled “Effects of Different Weed Management Practices on Growth Characters of Chickpea in Mid-hills of Himachal Pradesh” was conducted during rabi season of 2022 at Chamelti Agriculture Farm, MS Swaminathan School of Agriculture, Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences, Solan. The soil of the experimental field was sandy loam in texture, slightly alkaline in reaction with EC in a safer range, medium in organic carbon, available nitrogen, potassium, and high in available phosphorus. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with three replications comprising ten weed management treatments viz. (T1) One hand weeding at 20 DAS, (T2) Two hand weeding at 20 and 40 DAS, (T3) Pendimethalin 30 EC @ 1.0 kg ha-1 (PE), (T4) Imazethapyr 10 SL @ 1.0 kg ha-1 (PoE) at 25 DAS, (T5) Pendimethalin 30 EC @ 1.0 kg ha-1 (PE) + One hand weeding at 30 DAS, (T6) Imazethapyr 10 SL @ 1.0 kg ha-1 (PoE) at 25 DAS + One hand weeding at 40 DAS, (T7) Fenoxaprop-p-ethyl 9.3 EC @ 60 g ha-1 (PoE) at 25 DAS + One hand weeding at 40 DAS, (T8) Pendimethalin 30 EC @ 1.0 kg ha-1 (PE) + Imazethapyr 10 SL @ 1.0 kg ha-1 (PoE) at 25 DAS, (T9) Weed free and (T10) Weedy Check. The recommended dose of fertilizer (30:60:30 kg ha-1) was applied through Urea, SSP, and MOP at the time of sowing. PBG-7 variety of chickpea was used for sowing. Weed management practices were done as per treatment. Other crop management practices were followed as per the recommendation of the area. Application of (T8) Pendimethalin 30 EC @ 1.0 kg ha-1 (PE) + Imazethapyr 10 SL @ 1.0 kg ha-1 (PoE) at 25 DAS registered higher growth parameters viz. plant height, number of branches plant-1, dry matter accumulation and crop growth rate. Thus, study suggest that chickpea can successfully grown under Mid-hills of Himachal Pradesh on (T8) Pendimethalin 30 EC @ 1.0 kg ha-1 (PE) + Imazethapyr 10 SL @ 1.0 kg ha-1 (PoE) at 25 DAS.