Efficacy of herbicides and their time of application on field dodder (Cuscuta) in lucerne

Parasitic weed Cuscuta is a serious problem in lucerne and other crops has negative impacts on the growth and yield of lucerne. Hence, effective control of Cuscuta in lucerne is necessary to reduce yield losses. Considering the seriousness of the problem, an experiment was conducted during Rabi seasons of the 2020-21 and 2021-22 on loamy sand soil at the farm of AICRP-Weed Management, B. A. College of Agriculture, Anand Agricultural University, Anand, Gujarat. Pre-emergence application (PE) of pendimethalin 680 g/ha; pendimethalin + imazethapyr 640 g/ha; and pendimethalin + imazethapyr 800 g/ha were found phytotoxic to lucerne crop. The post-emergence application (PoE) of fluazifop-p-butyl + fomesafen 250 g/ha was also found phytotoxic to lucerne crop and showed burning effect on leaves of lucerne. Among different treatments, pendimethalin 680 g/ha applied at 10 days after sowing (DAS) significantly reduced the length and fresh weight of Cuscuta at 60 DAS with higher Cuscuta control efficiency (99.44%) and green fodder yield of lucerne at 60 DAS without any phytotoxic effect on lucerne.