Studies on the Effect of Chemical Weed Management on Growth Indices, Yield and Quality of Irrigated Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Chickpea, characterized by its short stature and slow initial growth, is highly susceptible to a wide range of weed species. The field experiment was designed during the Rabi season of 2021-22 at Agronomy Research Farm, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar to evaluate the chemical weed management in irrigated chickpea. The experiment was laid out in a Randomised Block Design (RBD) with thirteen treatments replicated thrice. The treatments combinations areT1 (Pendimethalin 30EC @ 1000g a.i ha-1 as PPI), T2 (Imazethapyr 10EC @ 75g a.i ha-1 as PPI), T3 (Imazethapyr 10EC @ 100g a.i ha-1 as PPI), T4 (Pendimethalin 30EC + imazethapyr 2EC (RM) @ 1000g a.i ha-1 as PPI), T5 (Pendimethalin 30EC @ 1000g a.i ha-1 as PRE), T6 (Imazethapyr 10EC @ 75g a.i ha-1 as PRE), T7 (Imazethapyr 10EC @ 100g a.i ha-1 as PRE), T8 (Pendimethalin 30EC + Imazethapyr 2EC (RM) @ 1000g a.i ha-1 as PRE), T9 (Imazethapyr 10EC @ 75g a.i ha-1 as POE), T10 (Imazethapyr 10EC @ 100g a.i ha-1 as POE), T11 (Two hand hoeing at 30 & 50 DAS), T12 (weed free) and T13 (weedy check). The results of this study showed that PPI and PRE application of any herbicide did not cause any phytotoxic effect on chickpea. The Ready mix (RM) herbicide applied as PPI and PRE performed better than sole PPI, PRE, and POE herbicides. Among herbicidal treatments, PPI and PRE application of pendimethalin + imazethapyr (RM) @ 1000 g a.i ha-1 gave excellent control of complex weed flora and increased the yield of chickpea significantly over the weedy check. Different weed control treatments could not bring significant variation in plant population in the initial stage but the plant population declined at maturity. The maximum plant growth attributes were observed with the application of pendimethalin + imazethapyr (RM) @ 1000 g a.i ha-1 as PRE. The POE application of imazethapyr irrespective of the dose recorded the lowest dry matter accumulation throughout the growing season of chickpea. The unchecked growth of weeds in the weedy check caused a 55.2% reduction in seed yield as compared to weed-free treatment. The maximum seed yield (1968 kg ha-1) and yield attributes of chickpea were recorded with weed-free treatment and among herbicidal treatments, maximum seed yield (1827 kg ha-1) was recorded with application of pendimethalin + imazethapyr (RM) @ 1000 g ha-1 PRE.