Chemical control, Coconut, Finger millet, Intercrop, Weed management, Wheel hoe weeding

A field experiment was laid out in randomized block design at Coconut Research Station, Balaramapuram consisted 12 weed management treatments replicated thrice to determine the cost-effective weed management practice for finger millet intercropped in coconut. There was significant reduction in the absolute density of grasses and broad-leaed weeds in finger millet due to weed management. Manual weeding at 15 and 30 DAS resulted in the lowest weed biomass at 40 DAS, however at 60 DAS, pre-emergence (PE) pyrazosulfuron-ethyl 20 g/ha fb wheel hoe weeding (WHW) at 25 DAS recorded the lowest weed biomass (32.40 g/m2). Weed control efficiency also followed the same trend as that of weed biomass. Pre-emergence application of pyrazosulfuron-ethyl 20 g/ha fb WHW at 25 DAS resulted in the highest weed control efficiency (91.8 %). Uncontrolled weed growth resulted in a yield loss of 53.88%. The lowest weed index was noted in PE pyrazosulfuron-ethyl 20 g/ha fb WHW at 25 DAS. Among the treatments, PE pyrazosulfuron-ethyl 20 g/ha fb WHW at 25 DAS recorded the highest productive tillers (93.3 no./m2), fingers per ear head (13.3 no.) and ear head weight (12.8 g). This treatment also resulted in the highest grain yield (2072.2 kg/ha) which was statistically at par with PE pyrazosulfuron 20 g/ha fb penoxsulam + cyhalofop-butyl 125 g/ha at 25 DAS (1931.5 kg/ha). The net return (40974  /ha) and B: C ratio (1.98) were also highest in PE pyrazosulfuron 20 g/ha fb WHW at 25 DAS.