Growth, Herbicides, Nutrient uptake, Wheat, Yield

A field experiment was carried out at Instructional Farm, Department of Agronomy, Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh (Gujarat) during Rabi of 2008-09 and 2009-10. The weed free treatment recorded significant improvement in yield attributes, viz. number of effective tillers, spikelets per spike and grain weight per plant, followed by pendimethalin 0.9 kg/ha as pre-emergence followed by one hand weeding at 35- 40 DAS. Integration of pendimethalin as pre-emergence with clodinafop, metsulfuron-methyl and 2,4-D amine salt as post-emergence with or without hand weeding proved effective in reducing weed density and dry weight of weeds. All the weed control treatments significantly influenced the grain and straw yield of wheat excluding unweeded control. The pre-emergence application of pendimethalin controlled monocot and dicot weeds, while clodinafop controlled monocot and metsulfuron-methyl controlled dicot weeds. Integrated weed management practices also produced increased nutrient uptake by crop and minimized nutrient due to weeds.