ASA Southern Branch 2008 Annual Meeting
February 3-5, 2008
Dallas, TX
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Herbicides and Intercultivation Improves Weed Control in Winter Canola.
Udai R. Bishnoi and Lekhanath Paudel. Plant and Soil Sciences, Alabama A&M University, P O Box 1208, Normal, AL 35762
Winter canola has potential to be a major winter crop in the southeastern United States ; however, weeds are one of the major limitations in its production causing loss in yield upto 50 percent. To solve this problem, three experiments:(1) 3 types of herbicides with two controls, (2) 3 intercultivation and two controls and (3) various combination of herbicides and intercultivation each at 3 levels were tested. Each treatment was replicated 4 times in Randomized Complete Block Design and data were analyzed using SAS Procedure. Pre-emergence applied of trifluralin @ 1lt a.i ha-1 gave 496.4 kg yield ha-1 which was 19.8 percent higher than control-weedy plots. Mid March intercultivation gave 20.9 percent higher yield than control-weedy plots. Trifluralin at 1 lit a.i ha-1 in combination with intercultivation in mid march gave highest (976.9 kg ha-1) yield and reduced 74.0 percent weed biomass in comparision to trifluralin alone applied as pre-emergence @ 1 lit a.i ha-1. Similarly, this rate of trifluralin in combination with intercultivation in mid march resulted in 46.2 percent less weed density than application of trifluralin alone. It is concluded from this study that herbicides followed by intercultivation significantly increase the yield of canola and reduced weed density in comparision to application of herbicide (trifluralin) or intercultivation alone.