Assessment of encapsulated herbicide for sustained release, weed control and crop productivity as a tool for agroecosystem biosafety

A significant amount of herbicide is applied in agricultural ecosystems to control weeds, which can pose risks to these environments. The encapsulated pyrazosulfuron ethyl and pretilachlor with zeolite, polycaprolactone and watersoluble polymer had impacts on weed control and productivity of rice and minimized the herbicidal hazard to the environmental impact. Weed control treatments showed a significant and inverse relationship with weed density, weed biomass and increased growth, yield attributes and yield of rice. Pyrazosulfuron ethyl entrapped zeolite reduced weed density by 56.26 % in 2022 and 53.91 % in 2023 at 45 DAS and the weed biomass was 2.10 times lower in 2022 and 2.85 times lower in 2023 than pretilachlor, which positively influenced the growth, yield attributes, grain and straw yield (5333 kg ha-1 and 6107 kg ha-1 in 2022 and 5123 kg ha-1 and 5803 kg ha-1 in 2023). It was on par with pyrazosulfuron ethyl encapsulated with polycaprolactone. Herbicide activity assay also resulted in better rice growth. Thus, the study showed that the encapsulated herbicides have a significant impact on weed control, growth and productivity of rice in a sustainable manner.