Evaluation of chemical and non-chemical weed control methods in onion: An integrated weed management approach

An integrated weed management experiment was conducted to compare the efficacy of chemical and non-chemical weed management methods in onion under the All India Network Research Project on Onion and Garlic. The three-year combined results revealed that all the weed management methods significantly influenced weed density. The lowest monocot, dicot, total weed population, weed biomass and highest weed control efficiency were recorded in treatment Plastic mulch. The highest bulb equatorial diameter (5.87 cm), polar diameter (4.32 cm), gross yield (317.63 q/ha) and marketable yield (267.34 q/ha) were recorded in treatment Plastic mulch. However, the highest benefit: cost ratio (2.89:1.0) was recorded in herbicidal treatment oxyflurofen 23.5% EC @ 1.5 mL/l at pre-transplanting + one hand weeding at 30 DAT + Quizalofop Ethyl 5% EC application at 60 DAT. Due to heavy infestation of weed competition, poor growth and development were recorded in treatment un-weed check results 49.0 to 88.80% yield reduction.