In-situ mulching of weeds in pigeon pea

Abstract

In pigeon pea cultivation, weeds are considered as major important factor for reducing pigeon pea production. About 40% reduction in pigeon pea yield occurred due to heavy infestation of weeds. In present scenario, the chemical herbicides are
being used to control different weeds flora however, it has certain
limitations such as emergence of resistance in the weeds, hazardous effect over beneficial microbes, crops and environment, etc which prevent them to be used widely for the
control of weeds. In this regard, manual weeding along with in-situ mulching may be a very common, ecofriendly and approachable practice for the management of weeds in
pigeon pea cultivation. The practice of in-situ mulching along with
balanced dose of fertilizers and selection of extra short-duration
cultivar (ICPL-88039) respectively maximized the yield of pigeon pea by 35.76 and 109 per cent over uses of pre-emergence weedicide, hand weeding and control. Maximum cost benefit ratio was obtained from insitu mulching of weeds (1:2.6) followed by hand weeding (1:2.3) pre-emergence weedicide (1:2.0) and
control (1:1.6). Selection of extra short-duration variety, use of balanced dose of fertilizer along with in-situ mulching of weeds is quite successful and ecofriendly practice for raising pigeon pea production under rainfed condition.