Dry-seeded rice, Sequential herbicides application, Transplanted rice, Wet-seeded rice, Weed management, Weed seed bank

Weed interference remains a major constraint to rice productivity under changing establishment methods and increasing labour and water scarcity. The objective of this study was to identify efficient rice establishment techniques and effective sequential herbicide application regimes to optimize weed control and improve rice productivity. The experiment was conducted in a split-plot design with three replications. The rice establishment methods, viz. conventional transplanting, direct dry-seeded rice, and wet-seeded rice were assigned to main plots and sequential herbicide application regimes   along with weedy check and weed-free were allocated to subplots. Conventional transplanting of rice recorded the maximum rice grain yield recording a 16.5–18.5% yield increase over other establishment methods. Uncontrolled weed infestation caused severe yield losses of up to 42.3%. The pre-emergence application (PE) of pretilachlor 1000 g/ha at 3 days after transplanting (DAT)/seeding (DAS) followed by (fb) post-emergence application (PoE) of chlorimuron + metsulfuron 4     g/ha or bispyribac-sodium 25 g/ha at 30 DAS/DAT) were as effective as manual weeding and caused an increase in rice yield of about 69% over weedy check, while also curtailing weed seed production and thus gradually reducing the soil weed seed reserve.