Abstract
Weed management programs should focus on environmental safety along
with benefits to the farmer. We evaluated the effects of various weed
control methods: 'daab' practice (stale seed bed technique), manual
hoeing, and the chemical method (mixture of Buctril Super 60EC
[bromoxynil + MCPA] 0.45 kg ai ha-1 and Puma Super
75EW[fenoxaprop-P-ethyl] 0.75 kg ai ha-1) in combination with different
planting geometries: 22.5 cm apart single row, 22.5 cm apart crisscross
double row, 30 cm apart single row and broadcast sowings on weed
control and grain yield of spring wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) var.
Sehar 2006 at the University College of Agriculture, University of
Sargodha, Pakistan, during the winters of 2009 and 2010. The chemical
method, manual hoeing and 'daab' practice gave 71.44%, 30.69% and
28.60% weed controls resulting in 11.79%, 11.09% and 4.95% increases in
grain yield above that of the weedy control, respectively. The 22.5 cm
apart single row sowing in combination with chemical weed control
proved to be the best regarding weed control (87.23%), grain yield
(4073 kg ha-1) and number of fertile tillers m-1 (509.5), whereas wheat
plant height (108.2 cm), number of grains spike-1 (45.90) and 1000
grain weight (45.23 g) were higher in 30 cm apart single row sowing in
interaction with manual hoeing. Grain yield showed a significant
negative (b = -152.8) and positive (b = 3.21) correlation with weed
biomass and fertile tillers m-1, respectively. Chemical weed control,
'daab' practice and manual hoeing gave cost:benefit ratios of 2.50,
1.95 and 1.14, respectively. Although the chemical method seems the
most profitable, the 'daab' practice was found to be the most
advantageous if environmental concerns were taken into consideration.