Weed management in chickpea through broad spectrum herbicides

A field experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with three replications, during Rabi 2022-23 and 2023-24 at J Farm, Agricultural Research Institute, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, India to evaluate the efficacy of different broad spectrum post emergence herbicides on weed control, yield and economics of chickpea. Results indicated that all the post emergence herbicides applied at 25 days after sowing (DAS) significantly reduced the weed growth and increased crop growth, yield over weedy check. Among the post emergence herbicides, the highest weed control efficiency (WCE) of 61.5% and 60% was obtained at 60 DAS and harvest with the application of sodium salt of acifluorfen 16.5% + clodinafop-propargyl 8% at 200 g/ha, respectively. However, all the post emergence herbicides applied at 25 DAS caused crop injury ranging from 10 to 16% at 14 days after herbicide application, though crop gradually recovered later. Among the post emergence herbicides tested, though higher yield of 1012 kg/ha was obtained with the application of sodium salt of acifluorfen 16.5% + clodinafop propargyl 8% at 200 g/ha but was on par with all other post emergence herbicides. There is an increased yield of 89% obtained with this treatment compared to weedy check. Higher net monetary returns (Rs. 33,485/-) and benefit cost ratio (BCR) of 1.22 were also obtained with this treatment. Thus, it was concluded that post emergence application of sodium salt of acifluorfen 16.5% + clodinafop propargyl 8% at 200 g/ha was found to be effective and economical compared to other post emergence herbicides under study.