Integrated Weed Management in Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.)

Uncontrolled weeds cause considerable losses in the grain yield of pigeonpea. Field experiments were conducted for seven years from 1998 to 2004 on a loamy sand soil to study the effect of weed management on weeds, growth and grain yield of pigeonpea. In some years, weed dry matter was higher than in others, due to variation in rainfall received. Two hand weedings, pendimethalin in integration with hand weeding or ridging or both and paraquat in integration with hand weeding resulted in high weed control efficiency. Uncontrolled weeds caused 31.0 to 52.8% reduction in pigeonpea grain yield in different years. The sole application of pendimethalin as pre-emergence at 45 or 75 kg ha was less effective in controlling 1 weeds and improving grain yield than the above mentioned treatments as pigeonpea is a long duration (about 140 days) crop and weeds emerge in different flushes due to rainy season. Integration of pendimethalin 0.45 kg ha 1 + hand weeding 30 DAS + ridging 50 DAS provided the high weed control efficiency and produced the highest grain yields of pigeonpea in all the years of study