Weed dynamics, productivity and economics of quality protein maize (Zea mays) as affected by weed and nutrient-management

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during 2015–16 and 2016–17 at Instructional Farm (Agronomy), Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur, Rajasthan, to evaluate the effect of weed and nutrient-management on quality protein maize. The experiment consisting of 9 weed-management treatments, viz. weedy check, hand-weeding at 15 days after sowing (DAS) and 35 DAS, tembotrione 0.125 kg/ha at 20 DAS, alachlor 2 kg/ha as pre-emergence (PE) followed by (fb) hand-weeding at 35 DAS, atrazine 0.5 kg/ha as PE fb hand-weeding at 35 DAS, tembotrione 0.125 kg/ha at 20 DAS fb hand-weeding at 35 DAS, alachlor 2 kg/ha + atrazine 0.5 kg/ha as PE fb hand-weeding at 35 DAS, alachlor 2 kg/ha as PE fb tembotrione 0.125 kg/ha at 20 DAS and atrazine 0.5 kg/ha as PE fb tembotrione 0.125 kg/ha at 20 DAS with 3 nutrient-management treatments, viz. NPK, NPK + Zn and NPKS + Zn, were replicated thrice in a split-plot design. The maximum reduction of weed density (8.35) and dry-matter (133.6 g) was recorded with atrazine 0.5 kg/ha fb tembotrione 0.125 kg/ha. Atrazine 0.5 kg/ha fb tembotrione 0.125 kg/ha resulted in maximum number of grains/ cob (367.91), grain weight (82.79 g), 1,000-seed weight (212.03 g) and shelling % (76.58) and ensued significantly higher grain (4.5 t/ha) and stover (7.5 t/ha) yields. Application of NPKS + Zn showed significantly higher yield attributes as well as grain (4.3 t/ha) and stover (7.2 t/ha) yield.