Dry Matter Accumulation and Growth Indices of Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) as Affected by Different Weed Management Practices and Plant Geometry

An experiment was conducted during rabi seasons of 2016-17 and 2017-18 at Agronomy Farm, S.K.N. Agriculture University, Jobner, Jaipur, Rajasthan, to get a suitable combination of sowing at different plant geometries and weed management. The experiment was managed in a split-plot design with three replications. The main plot treatments comprised four plant geometries, viz. 50 x 20 cm, 50 x 25 cm, 60 x 15 cm and 60 x 20 cm and subplots consisted of six treatments of weed management, viz. weedy check, two hand weeding (HW) at 25 and 50 days after sowing (DAS), pendimethalin @ 0.75 kg/ha pre emergence (PE), oxadiargyl @ 75 g/ha (PE), pendimethalin @ 0.75 kg/ha (PE) + one HW at 30 DAS and oxadiargyl @ 75 g/ha (PE) + one HW at 30 DAS. Sowing of fennel with plant geometry 60 x 20 cm showed superior performance in respect of dry-matter accumulation, growth indices and yield as compared to plant geometries 50 x 20 cm, 50 x 25 cm and 60 x 15 cm. Among weed management treatments, hand weeding twice 25 and 50 DAS registered significantly highest dry matter accumulation, growth indices viz. crop growth rate (CGR), relative growth rate (RGR) and yield of fennel, thus, hold a great promise in fennel production under semi-arid conditions of Rajasthan.