Weed management through physical means (hand weeding) is laborious and expensive, while use of chemical herbicide resulting in pollution of environment and herbicide-resistant biotypes. Under the situation, integrated weed management approach involving non-chemical (hand weeding, intercropping, mulching etc.) and chemical (use of herbicides) methods in maize is very important to provide effective weed control for realizing high production. Therefore, to study the effect of chemical and non-chemical weed management practices on weed dynamics and yield of maize. The present study was conducted at the Research Farm of the School of Agriculture. Abhilashi University, Mandi (H.P.) during Kharif 2022. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with three replications, consisting of nine weed management treatments. Results of the study revealed that non-chemical weed management treatments comprised of weed free (hand weeding at 25, 45 and 65 DAS), two hand weeding (25 and 45 DAS) and soybean intercropping + one hand weeding (25 DAS) being at par with each other resulted in significantly lower total weed dry weight, higher weed control efficiency, better crop growth (plant height, number of plants and dry matter accumulation), yield attributes (number of cobs per plant, number of grains per cob and 1000-grain weight) and higher yield (grain and straw) than rest of the chemical and non-chemical weed management treatments.

Weed management, maize, intercropping, chemical methods, hand weeding, soybean, yield

The study conclusively indicated that non chemical weed management treatments comprised of weed free, two hand weeding and soybean intercropping + one hand weeding being at par with each other resulted in significantly lower weed dry weight, higher weed control efficiency, higher yield attributes and yield (grain and straw) of maize than chemical and other non chemical weed management treatments.

Hemlata, Kumari P., Ravinder and Kumar H. (2023). Effect of Chemical and Non-chemical Weed Management Practices on Weed Dynamics and Yield of Maize (Zea mays L.). Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(11): 181-185.