Rice-wheat cropping system, Zero tillage, Conventional tillage, Weed control,Herbicide
A field experiment was conducted in rainy season of 2005, 2006 and 2007 with direct seeded line sown rice as first crop and wheat as subsequent crop in winter season at the University farm of Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India to understand the effect of tillage systems and weed control methods on weed flora and grain yield of rice-wheat cropping system. The weeds found in initial two year consisted of Echinochloa colona, Ischaemum rugosum, Fimbristylis miliacea, Cyperus iria, Alternanthera triandra, Cynotis axillaris and Croton bonplandianum. In third Year, Setaria glauca emerged as new weed and Fimbristylis miliacea got disappeared, whereas in wheat, broad leaf weeds like Melilotus indica and Chenopodium album dominated the weed flora. In the initial two years, the grain yield of rice was not influenced significantly due to tillage methods, but during 2007, the grain yield was significantly higher by 10.24% under zero tillage than conventional tillage. Among the different weed control practices, farmer's practice produced maximum grain yield which was significantly superior over recommended herbicide and unweeded check and the increase in yield was to the tune of 48.09 and 96.64%, respectively, in order. During dry season, significantly higher grain yield of wheat by 5.55% was recorded under conventional tillage than zero tillage. Significant variation in grain yield and yield attributes was also registered due to various weed control treatments. Grain yield of wheat was significantly higher under herbicidal treatment i.e. pendimethalin 1.0 kg/ha as preemergence followed by metsulfuron 2.0 g/ha as post-emergence by 10.0 and 31.3%, respectively, as compared to farmer's practice i.e. two hand weeding and weedy check.