Email:
bipmitra@yahoo.com
Address:
Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Pundibari, Coochbehar, West Bengal 736 165, India
A study was undertaken during winter seasons of 2016-17 and 2017-18 at Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Coochbehar, West Bengal to assess the comparative efficacy of various herbicides and to identify the effective herbicides for controlling broad-leaved weed flora in wheat. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with eleven herbicides combination viz. halauxifen-methyl ester+ florasulam 40.85% WG + polyglycol; metsulfuron methyl 20 WG + surfactant; carfentrazone 40 DF; 2,4-D Na 80 WP; 2,4-D E 38 EC; metsulfuron + carfentrazone +surfactant; 2,4-D-Na + carfentrazone; 2,4-D E + carfentrazone , halauxifen-methyl + florasulam+ carfentrazone + surfactant including a weedy check and weed free treatment. It was revealed that Polygonum alone constituted almost 72% of the total broad leaved weed population in both the years. Among the herbicidal treatments, metsulfuron + carfentrazone + surfactant recorded significantly lesser weed population (10.0 and 2.3/m2 during 30 and 60 days after spraying of post-emergence herbicides, respectively) vis-à-vis weed dry weight (11.2 and 4.5 g/m2 during 30 and 60 days after spraying of post-emergence herbicides, respectively) . This combination also recorded the highest broad leaf weed control efficiency (90.1 and 99.0% at 30 and 60 days after spraying, respectively) with the lowest weed index 6.0.The new molecule halauxifen-methyl ester + florasulam in combination with carfentrazone recorded 88.1 and 94.0% weed control efficiency. It was noted that Polygonum was killed by halauxifen-methyl ester + florasulam 40.85% WG + polyglycol, but it could not control Physalis minima, the second most important weed after Polygonum. Weed free treatment recorded significantly higher grain yield (5.39 t/ha) followed by metsulfuron + carfentrazone + surfactant treated plots (5.04 t/ha), the best performed treatments among various post-emergence herbicides combination used in the experiment. According to the linear regression, wheat crop was likely to produce very poor grain yield (less than 1.50 t/ha) when weed biomass exceeds 400 g/m2.