Climate resilient rice
Invasive alien weeds
Integrated weed management
The present investigation was conducted to evolve a suitable weed management practice for invasive alien weeds in transplanted rice at Annamalai University Experimental Farm, Annamalainagar, during samba seasons of consecutive years (2015 and 2016). The experiments were laid out in a split plot design with the conventional rice and submergence tolerant rice varieties compared in main plot. Weed management practices, viz. unweeded control, twice hand weeding (at 30 and 45 DAT), butachlor 1.5 kg/ha, bensulfuron-methyl 0.06 + pretilachlor 0.6 kg/ha and oxadiargyl 0.07 kg/ha were compared in sub treatments. The results indicated that submergence tolerance as a biological or genetic trait in crops helped suppressing invasive alien weeds like Leptochloa chinensis and Marsilea quadrifolia, offering biotic resistance to invasion by alien weeds and when integrated with weed control measures. Hence, weed control in submergence tolerant rice with the application of bensulfuron-methyl 0.06 + pretilachlor 0.6 kg/ha could be suggested as an efficient weed control programme for monsoon transplanted rice crop.