Effect of integrated weed management on turmeric under mid hill conditions of Himachal Pradesh

A field experiment was carried out on silty clay loam soil, acidic in reaction, high in available phosphorus, medium in available potassium and low in available N during kharif 2017 at the Research Farm of Department of Agronomy, CSKHPKV, Palampur to study effective weed control strategy for this important crop. The results revealed that Alternanthera philoxeroides was the major weed constituting 16% of the total weed flora. This was followed by Cynodon dactylon and Echinochloa colona with 14 and 12% of total weed population, respectively. The count of Echinochloa colona, Alternanthera philoxeroides, Commelina benghalensis, Digitaria sanguinalis and Ageratum conyzoides was maximum at 120 DAP and there after it gradually decreased. All herbicide treatments brought significant reduction in the count on Echinochloa, Alternanthera and Ageratum over weedy check. The lowest count of these weeds was recorded in metribuzin fb straw mulch fb hand weeding and the maximum count was in case of weedy check. All the weed control treatments significantly reduced the total weed count and dry weight of weeds as compared to the weedy check. Amongst different herbicide treatments application of metribuzin @ 0.70 kg/ha fb straw mulch fb hand weeding resulted in significantly lowest weed count at all stages of observation as well as at harvest though this treatment was at par with metribuzin @ 0.70 kg/ha fb two hand weedings and treatments in which atrazine 0.75 kg/ha and hand weedings were applied with or without the use of straw mulch resulted in significantly lower dry matter accumulation by weeds as compared to other herbicide treatments. Weed index calculated at 120 DAP was highest with use of metribuzin @ 0.70 kg/ha and atrazine @ 0.75 kg/ha used along with straw mulch and one or two hand weedings proving effective as compared to other herbicides tested. From the present study it seems that mulching must be included in any effective weed management strategy for turmeric. Also among different herbicides metribuzin and atrazine are effective and their integration with mulching and/or hand weeding gave good control of weeds in turmeric.