WEED MANAGEMENT IN DIRECT SEEDED RICE USING DIFFERENT HERBICIDE COMBINATIONS AND THEIR EFFECT ON GROWTH AND YIELD PARAMETERS

The study was conducted at Institute of Agriculture and Natural Sciences in Kharif season.The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with three replications.The experiment comprised ten weed-control treatments, Pendimethalin 1.0 Kg/ha, Pendimethalin 1.0 Kg/ha +1Hand weeding, Bispyrac Sodium 25 gm/ha + (Chlorimuronethyl + Metsulfuron methyl 20gm/ha, Bispyrac Sodium 25gm/ha + Ethoxysulfuron 18 gm/ha, Bispyrac Sodium 25 gm/ha+2,4-D Ethyl Ester EC 1.0 Kg/ha, Fenoxaprop-p-ethyl 60 gm/ha + (Chlorimuron-ethyl + Metsulfuron methyl 20 gm/ha, Fenoxaprop-pethyl 60 gm/ha + Ethoxysulfuron 18 gm/ha, Fenoxaprop-p-ethyl 60 gm/ha + 2,4-D Ethyl Ester EC 1.0 Kg/ha, 2 Hand weeding and Control.All herbicide combinations significantly influenced weed growth and crop yield.Monocot weeds, particularly sedges, were the most dominant among all the species.Combined applications of ready-mix herbicides provided better weed control with a higher weed-control index (WCI) in DSR.The economics of the different treatments were also determined to find the best herbicide combinations suited for weed management in rice crop.Growth parameters such as plant height and number of tillers per plant, were recorded at different stages of growth.The observations recorded showed that Bispyrac sodium + (Metsulfuronmethyl + Chlorimuronethyl) increased the yield per hectare, as compared to the other herbicide combinations.These treatments have successful weed control that increased the amount of nutrients available to the rice plant, which in turn helped to promote cell division and promoted meristematic activity, boosting leaf surface area, and photosynthesis increased as leaf surface area increased.