Influence of weed control and sulphur nutrition on weed dynamics and productivity of pea (Pisum sativum L.).

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during rabi 1998/99 and 1999/2000 at Udaipur, Rajasthan, India with pea cv. Azad P-1 sown on 14 November 1998 and 29 October 1999. The treatments consisted of 6 weed management treatments (a weedy control, hand weedings at 30 and 45 days after sowing (DAS), pre-plant incorporation of fluchloralin at 1.0 kg/ha and pre-emergence application of pendimethalin at 0.75 kg/ha, oxadiazon at 0.5 kg/ha and alachlor at 1.5 kg/ha) and 4 levels of sulfur fertilizer (0, 30, 60 and 90 kg/ha). The weeds in the experimental site included Chenopodium album, Chenopodium murale, Melilotus indica, Spergula arvensis, Phalaris minor and Cynodon dactylon. Weed density was lowest with oxadiazon (40 weeds/m²), but total weed dry matter was lowest with the hand weeding treatment (251.3 kg/ha) at 60 DAS. Oxadiazon also recorded the highest values for pods per plant (28.9), seeds per pod (5.8), test weight (189.9), seed yield (2265 kg/ha) and straw yield (5629 kg/ha), followed by fluchloralin. Sulfur application had no effect on weed density but increased total weed dry matter. Yield and yield attributes also increased with increasing rates of S fertilizer.