Weed Management Strategies for Enhanced Productivity in Groundnut

A field investigation was carried out at Regional Research Station, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Vridhachalam to evaluate suitable weed management strategies for enhanced productivity groundnut. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications and nine treatments. The treatments included were Pendimethalin @ 1.0 kg/ha as PE, Pendimethalin 30 EC + Imazethapyr 2 EC (ready mix) @ 1.0 kg/ha as PE, Pendimethalin @ 1.0 kg/ha as PE fb Quizalofop-p-ethyl @ 50 g/ha at 15-20 DAS, Pendimethalin 30 EC + Imazethapyr 2 EC (ready mix) @ 1.0 kg/ha as PE fb Quizalofop-p-ethyl @ 50 g/ha at 15-20 DAS, Pendimethalin @ 1.0 kg/ha as PE fb Imazethapyr @ 75 g/ha at 15-20 DAS, Pendimethalin @ 1.0 kg/ha as PE fb Hand Weeding (HW) at 25-30 DAS, Pendimethalin 30 EC + Imazethapyr 2 EC (ready mix) @ 1.0 kg/ha as PE fb HW at 25-30 DAS, Two hand weeding at 20 and 40 DAS and Weedy check. Application of Pendimethalin 30 EC + Imazethapyr 2 EC (ready mix) @ 1.0 kg/ha on 3rd day after sowing followed by one manual weeding at 25-30 DAS recorded lower weed density of 33.3 No/m2, weed dry weight of 113 g/m2 with higher pod yield of 2400 kg/ha, net return of Rs. 62851/- per ha with BCR of 1.91. Among the herbicide combinations, application of pendimethalin @ 1.0 kg/ha on 3 DAS followed by Imazethapyr @ 75 g/ha at 15-20 DAS recorded pod yield of 1600 kg/ha with Benefit Cost Ratio of 1.38. From this study, it was concluded that application of Pendimethalin 30 EC + Imazethapyr 2 EC (ready mix) @ 1.0 kg a.i//ha on 3 DAS as pre-emergence followed by one hand weeding at 25-30 DAS was identified as efficient and economical weed management practice for groundnut.