International Journal of Agricultural

Science and Research (IJASR)

ISSN(P): 2250-0057; ISSN(E): 2321-0087
Vol. 5, Issue 5, Oct 2015, 183-190
TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.

DIFFERENT WEED MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN MACHINE TRANSPLANTED RICE

(Oryza sativa L.)
R. B. NEGALUR1 & A. S. HALEPYATI2
1

Assistant Professor of Agronomy Krishi Vigyan Kendra, ARS, Campus Gangavati,

UAS, Raichur, Karnataka, India
2

Professor & Head, Division of Agronomy, University of Agricultural Sciences,

Raichur, Karnataka, India

ABSTRACT
Field experiment on effect of different weed management practices in machine transplanted rice (Oryza sativa
L.) was conducted at Agricultural Research Station, Gangavathi, University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur, Karnataka
during kharif, 2012 and 2013 under irrigated condition in clay soil. Pooled mean indicated that, among the different weed
management practices, application of butachlor 50 EC fb passing of power operated low land rice weeder twice at 20 and
30 DAT with hand weeding in intra row space recorded significantly lower grassy weed population and dry weight at 40,
60 DAT and at harvest (1.98, 2.47, 2.97/ 0.25 m2 and 1.00, 1.20, 1.47 g /0.25 m2, respectively ), sedge weed population and
dry weight (2.61, 3.21, 3.52 / 0.25 m2 and 1.19, 1.48, 1.71 g /0.25 m2, respectively) and broad leaved weed population and
dry weight (1.68, 2.10, 2.52 / 0.25 m2 and 0.91, 1.06, 1.28 g /0.25 m2, respectively), leaf area index (4.09), DMP in leaves
(14.04 g plant-1), DMP in stem (29.03 g plant-1), DMP in panicles (39.33 g plant-1), filling percent (89.59), test weight
(18.29 g), grain yield (5160 kg ha-1), straw yield (6482 kg ha-1), gross returns (` 92,212 ha-1), net returns (`` 50,410 ha-1)
and B:C of 2.22 over unweeded check.

KEYWORDS: Conoweeder, Hand Weeding, Low Land Power Operated Paddy Weeder, Post Emergent, Pre-emergent
INTRODUCTION
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is cultivated in command areas of Cauvery basin in South, Tungabhadra and Upper
Krishna commands in North where manual transplanting is the major method of planting. In Northern Karnataka that too in
Hyderabad - Karnataka region, major paddy area is concentrated in Koppal, Raichur, Yadgir and Bellary districts. The area
under rice in Karnataka is 1.54 m ha with an annual production of 3.9 million tonnes and with a productivity of 2974 kg
per ha (Anon., 2010).
Weeds grow faster and absorb the available nutrients earlier and faster resulting in deprivation of nutrients for the
rice. Hence, weed management during the early period of rice is one of the most critical factor for successful production of
rice. Present conventional method of manual weeding is effective method of weed control. But, it is not advantageous as it
is costlier, time consuming. Manually it is difficult to differentiate and remove the grassy weeds particularly Echinochloa
colonum and Echinochloa crusgalli due to phenotypical similarities between weeds and rice seedlings in early stages. In
such a situation, the chemical weed control becomes an alternative method for weed control.
Chemical weeding preferably the application of pre-emergent herbicide is a vital tool for effective and cost
efficient weed control in rice, which encounters weed competition from the day of germination. Adjusting the time of
www.tjprc.org

[email protected]

184

R. B. Negalur & A. S. Halepyati

application, reducing the dose of the herbicide or use of herbicides in sequence can improve selectivity and adequate weed
control in transplanted rice.
Manually operated cono weeder at various Universities in India showed reduced drudgery due to less time taken
(50-55 %) compared to hand weeding. The use of equipment also resulted in saving of cost of operation by 45 per cent.
Farmers are of the opinion that cono weeder operation in standing position of operator allowed weeding without fatigue
(Dixit and Khan, 2009).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A field experiment was conducted at Agricultural Research Station, Gangavathi, University of Agricultural
Sciences, Raichur, during kharif, 2012 and 2013. The experiment was laid in Randomized Block Design. The soil of the
experimental site was medium deep black clay with soil reaction (8.2), electrical conductivity (2.1), available N (247.2 kg
ha-1), available P2O5 (50.2 kg ha-1) and available K2O (357.6 kg ha-1) at surface 0-20 cm soil depth.
Agricultural Research Station, Gangavathi is situated in the Northen Dry Zone of Karnataka between 15o 15' 40"
North latitude and 76o 31' 40" East longitude at an altitude of 419 m above mean sea level and represents irrigated
transplanted rice belt of Tungabhadra command area. The experiment consisted twelve different weed management
practices viz., pre- emergent application of butachlor 50 EC fb hand weeding at 30 DAT (T1), Bensulfuron methyl 0.6% +
Pretilachlor 6% fb hand weeding at 30 DAT (T2), Butachlor 50 EC fb 2, 4-D Sodium salt 80 WP at 25 DAT (T3),
Butachlor 50 EC fb Bispyriback sodium 10 SC at 25 DAT (T4), Bensulfuron methyl 0.6% + Pretilachlor 6% fb 2, 4 - D fb
Sodium salt 80 WP at 25 DAT (T5), Bensulfuron methyl 0.6% + Pretilachlor 6% fb Bispyriback sodium 10 SC 25 DAT
(T6), Butachlor 50 EC fb power operated low land rice weeder twice at 20 and 30 DAT with hand weeding in intra row
space (T7), passing of power operated low land rice weeder at 20 and 30 DAT with hand weeding in intra row space (T8),
passing of Conoweeder twice at 10 and 20 DAT fb hand weeding at 30 DAT (T9) and two hand weedings at 20 and 40
days after transplanting (T10) were compared with unweeded control (T11) and weed free check (T12). The land was
prepared using tractor drawn cultivator twice, followed by puddling twice with disc puddler and finally levelled using
tractor drawn spike tooth harrow and kept ready for planting. Weed control treatments were imposed as per the
combination of pre, post emergent herbicides and use of weeders, time and dosage of the chemicals. From the day of
transplanting upto 10 days, a thin film of water was maintained and thereafter 5 cm standing water was maintained up to 10
days before harvesting. Water was drained during fertilizer application and spraying of weedicides and chemicals.
Recommended dose of fertilizers (150:75:75 and 20 N: P2O5: K2O and ZnSO4 kg/ha) were applied as per the
recommendation and time. Urea, Di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and Muriate of potash (MOP) were used to supply N, P
and K respectively. Before application, the land was drained and fertilizers were uniformly broadcasted over the field
followed by letting in of water 24 hours after application. To control leaf folder and stem borer, Monocrotophos @ 1000
ml ha-1 was sprayed at 25 and 50 days after transplanting and one spray of Streptomycin sulphate @ 60 g ha-1 was taken up
to control the bacterial leaf blight. Similarly to control brown plant hopper, one spray of Buprofezin and DDVP @ 625 ml
and 625 g ha -1 was taken up during both the years of study. The crop was harvested at physiological maturity, threshed and
cleaned manually in both the years. The weed count of different weeds from 0.25 squre meter area was recorded at 20 days
interval and then the weeds after washing in water were sun dried and then oven dried at 65 oC and the dry weight of weeds
were recorded and expressed in grams. Both grain and straw were sun dried for a week and dry weights were recorded. For
computing the cost of cultivation, different variable cost of items was considered. The cost includes expenditure on seeds,
Impact Factor (JCC): 4.7987

NAAS Rating: 3.53

Different Weed Management Practices in Machine Transplanted Rice (Oryza Sativa L.)

185

fertilizer, weedicides, irrigation, plant protection chemicals, hiring charges of transplanter, conoweeder, low land power
operated paddy weeder, fuel cost and labour charges prevailed in market during 2012 and 2013.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Weed Population and Dry Weight
Different weed control treatments had significant influence on weed population and weed dry weight at all the
growth stages. Pooled mean revealed that, significantly lower weed population and dry weight at all the growth stages was
recorded with weed free check. Among the different weed management practices, at 20 DAT, application of bensulfuron
methyl 0.6% + pretilachlor 6% fb bispyriback sodium 10 SC at 20 DAT recorded significantly lower grassy weed
population and dry weight (1.37/ 0.25 m2 and 1.44 g /0.25 m2, respectively), lower sedge weed population and dry weight
(1.86 / 0.25 m2 and 0.95 g /0.25 m2, respectively) and broad leaved weed population and dry weight (1.44 / 0.25 m2 and
0.84 g /0.25 m2, respectively). Indicating the effectiveness of pre- emergent herbicides at early stage (Table 1, 2 and 3).
Whereas application of butachlor 50 EC fb passing of power operated low land rice weeder twice at 20 and 30
DAT with hand weeding in intra row spaces recorded significantly lower grassy weeds population and dry weight at 40, 60
DAT and at harvest (1.98, 2.47, 2.97/ 0.25 m2 and 1.00, 1.20 and 1.47 g /0.25 m2 , respectively), sedge weeds population
and dry weight (2.61, 3.21, 3.52/ 0.25 m2 and 1.19, 1.48 and 1.71 g /0.25 m2 , respectively) and broad leaved weeds
population and dry weight (1.68, 2.10, 2.52/ 0.25 m2 and 0.91, 1.06 and 1.28 g /0.25 m2 , respectively) over unweeded
control. Herbicide application in sequence was found to be better than single application of herbicides and in combination
with weeders .These results are in conformity with findings of Srivastava et al. (2008), Bhanu Rekha et al. (2004), and
Swapan Kumar Maity and Mukherjee (2009).
Growth and Yield Parameters
Different weed management practices noticed significant response by the rice crop. Pooled data of two years
indicated that, all the growth and yield parameters were significantly higher with weed free check. Among the different
weed management practices, application of butachlor 50 EC fb passing of power operated low land rice weeder twice at 20
and 30 DAT with hand weeding in intra row spaces recorded significantly higher leaf area index (4.09), DMP in leaves
(14.04 g plant-1), DMP in stem (29.03 g plant-1), DMP in panicles (39.33 g plant-1), the yield parameters like filling percent
(89.59) and test weight (18.29 g), grain yield (5160 kg ha-1) and straw yield (6482 kg ha-1) over unweeded control, but was
found to be on par with application of bensulfuron methyl 0.6% + pretilachlor 6% fb bispyriback sodium 10 SC and
bensulfuron methyl 0.6% + pretilachlor 6% fb 2, 4 - D sodium salt 80 WP (Table 4 and 5). This work is in conformity with
the work of Bhat et al. (2008) and Sunil et al. (2010) who recorded such increased dry matter production in rice grown
under wet land condition and attributed the differences due to better growth of plants on account of reduced weed
competition at critical crop growth stages, resulting in increased availability of nutrients, space and light. Similar results
were also reported by Sathyanarayana et al. (1997), Behera and Jena (1998) and Walia et al. (2008).
Economics
Weed free check recorded significantly higher gross returns (Rs. 95,105) when compared to rest of the treatments
but was found to be on par with application of butachlor 50 EC fb passing of power operated low land rice weeder twice at
20 and 30 DAT with hand weeding in intra row spaces (Rs. 92,212), bensulfuron methyl 0.6% + pretilachlor 6% fb
bispyriback sodium 10 SC (Rs. 91,549) and bensulfuron methyl 0.6% + pretilachlor 6% fb 2, 4 - D sodium salt 80 WP (Rs.
www.tjprc.org

[email protected]

186

R. B. Negalur & A. S. Halepyati

88,229). Whereas net returns were higher with application of butachlor 50 EC fb passing of power operated low land rice
weeder twice at 20 and 30 DAT with hand weeding in intra row spaces (Rs. 50,410) compared to unweeded control (Rs.
19,376) and it was followed by weed free check (Rs. 49,801) (Table 5). Even though the gross returns were the highest
with weed free check, the net returns were higher with application of butachlor 50 EC fb passing of power operated low
land rice weeder twice at 20 and 30 DAT with hand weeding in intra row space, which is because of higher cost of
cultivation due to manual weeding when compared to cost incurred for herbicide and power weeder.
Application of butachlor 50 EC fb passing of power operated low land rice weeder twice at 20 and 30 DAT with
hand weeding in intra row spaces recorded higher B:C (2.22) as compared to weed free check. However, in weed free
check, the B:C (2.12) was lesser even though the grain yield and gross returns were higher and was due to higher cost of
cultivation as a result of high cost incurred towards labour for weeding (Table 5). Due to the severe crop weed competition
throughout the crop growth period resulting in decreased growth and yield contributing parameters, the unweeded control
recorded significantly the lowest B:C (1.53). These results are in conformity with the findings of Sunil et al. (2010) and
Pasha et al. (2012).

CONCLUSIONS
The study thus indicated that, application of pre emergent herbicide butachlor 50 EC @ 2.5 lit ha-1 fb passing of
power operated low land rice weeder twice at 20 and 30 DAT with hand weeding in intra row space was found to be most
effective and economical. The next best treatments were sequential application of bensulfuron methyl 0.6% + pretilachlor
6% fb bispyribac sodium 10 SC and bensulfuron methyl 0.6% + pretilachlor 6% fb 2, 4-D sodium 80 WP.

REFERENCES
1.

Anonymous, 2010, The Hindu Survey of Indian Agric., pp. 43-46.

2.

Behera, A. K. and Jena, S. N., 1998a, Weed control in direct seeded rainfed upland rice. Indian J. Agron., 43(2):
284-290.

3.

Bhanu Rekha, K., Kavitha, P. and Srinivasa Raju, M., 2004, Performance of herbicides for weed control in
transplanted rice (Oryza sativa L.). Andhra Agric. J., 51(1 & 2): 1-4.

4.

Bhat, I. A., Dileep Kachroo and Manzoor Ahmad Ganai, 2008, Efficiency of different herbicides on growth and
yield of direct wet seeded rice sown through drum seeder. Crop Res., 36(1, 2 & 3): 33-36.

5.

Dixit, A. and Khan, J. N., 2009, Improved cost effective implements for small rice farmers. Agricultural
Mechanization in Asia, Africa and Latin America, 40(2): 30-35.

6.

Pasha, L. M., Krishna, L., Bhadru, D. and Naik, R. B. M., 2012, Comparative performance of different weed
management practices in system of rice intensification. Madras Agric. J., 99(7-9):473-475.

7.

Sathyanarayana, V., Latchanna, A. and Varaprasad, P. V., 1997, Weed management in direct seeded upland
paddy. Ann. Agric. Res., 18(3): 385-387.

8.

Srivastava, V. K., Krishan Mohan, T., Singh, R. P. and Singh, R. N., 2008, Bio-efficacy of sulfonylurea
herbicides in transplanted ric (Oryza sativa L.). Indian J. Weed Sci., 40 (3&4):193-195.

9.

Sunil, C. M., Shekara, B. G., Kalyanamurthy, K. N. and Shankara Lingappa, 2010, Growth and yield of aerobic

Impact Factor (JCC): 4.7987

NAAS Rating: 3.53

187

Different Weed Management Practices in Machine Transplanted Rice (Oryza Sativa L.)

rice as influenced by integrated weed management practices. Indian J. Weed Sci., 42(3 & 4): 180-183.
10. Swapan Kumar Maity and Mukherjee, P. K., 2009, Integrated weed management in dry direct seeded summer
rice. Indian J. Agric. Sci., 79(12): 28-31.
11. Walia, U. S. Bhullar, M. S., Shelly Nayyar and Walia, S.S., 2008, Control of complex weed flora of dry-seeded
rice with pre-and post-emergence herbicides. Indian J. Weed Sci., 40 (3&4): 161-164.

APPENDICES
Table 1: Grassy and Sedge Weed Population as Influenced by weed Control Treatments in
Machine Transplanted Rice at Different Growth Stages (Pooled Data of 2012 and 2013)

* Figures in parentheses indicate original values

DAT Days after transplanting

Table 2: Broad Leaved Weed Population and Dry Weight of Grassy Weeds as Influenced by Weed Control
Treatments in Machine Transplanted Rice at Different Growth Stages (POOLED Data of 2012 and 2013)

* Figures in parentheses indicate original values

www.tjprc.org

DAT Days after transplanting

[email protected]

188

R. B. Negalur & A. S. Halepyati

Table 3: Dry Weight of Sedge and Broad Leaved Weeds as Influenced by Weed Control Treatments in
Machine Transplanted Rice at Different Growth Stages (Pooled data of 2012 and 2013)

* Figures in parentheses indicate original values DAT Days after transplanting

Table 4: Leaf Area, Dry Matter Production in Leaves, Stem, Panicle and Test Weight of Rice as Influenced by
Weed Control Treatments in Machine Transplanted Rice (Pooled data of 2012 and 2013)

Impact Factor (JCC): 4.7987

NAAS Rating: 3.53

Different Weed Management Practices in Machine Transplanted Rice (Oryza Sativa L.)

189

Table 5: Grain Yield, Straw Yield, Cost of Cultivation, Gross Returns, Net Returns and B:C of Rice as Influenced
by Weed Control Treatments in Machine Transplanted Rice (Pooled data of 2012 and 2013)

www.tjprc.org

[email protected]