Weed management practices in rice consisted of weedy check, hand weeding at 30 and 60 DAT, butachlorat 1.5 kg/ha and anilofos at 0.5 kg/ha. The experiment was part of a long term trial in rice – wheat cropping system conducted in a split plot design with three replications. Data on weed dry weight, crop growth and yield parameters were recorded at different growth stages. Herbicides were effective in reducing the growth of several weeds and improving the physiological status of the crop. Hand weeding twice recorded lowest weed dry weight at both 60 and 90 DAT during both the years (7.44 and 13.64g/m2, respectively). Butachlor and anilofos treatments recorded lower weed dry weight at 60 and 90 DAT as compared to weedy plot. Physiological parameters such as chlorophyll content and photosynthetic rate of the crop were higher in the herbicide treatments.