Effect of pre-emergence herbicide and mulching on rabi wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production, growth, and weed management

The experiment was conducted during the Rabi season of 2023-2024 at Dr. C.V Raman University's agronomy research farm in Vaishali, Bihar, India. The purpose of the experiment was to examine the effects of mulching and pre-emergence herbicide on weed dynamics, growth, and yield in wheat variety PBW-550.The study was set up using a Randomised Block Design, with three replications of each of the twelve treatments. Plastic mulching plus sulfosulfuron at 25 g a1/ha pre-emergence and plastic mulching plus mesulfuron at 4g al/ha are the treatments. T3: Two-hand weeding and plastic mulching T4: Mulching with plastic + Control T5: 25 g a1/ha of sulfosulfuron combined with straw mulch (paddy straw),T6: Mersulfuron + straw mulch (Paddy Straw) at 4g al/ha T7: Paddy straw mulch and two manual weedings. T8: Paddy straw (straw mulch) + Control Pre-emergence T9: Control + Sulfosulfuron at 25 g a1/ha, T10: Control + Mersulfuron at 4g al/ha T12-Control and T11-Control plus Two-Hand Weeding. There was a significant increase in grain output (44.10 t/ha), gross returns (Rs. 2,61,491.45 /ha), net returns (Rs. 1,58,190 /ha), and benefit cost ratio (1.53) with the treatment (T-7) combination of straw mulch (Paddy Straw) + two hand weeding.