Effect of Weed Management Practices on Weed Control Index, Yield and Yield Components of Sweet Corn

Maize (Zea mays L) is the most important cereal crop next rice and wheat in India and also a predominant cereal in the global agricultural economy. Weed management is a serious challenge for successful cultivation of sweet corn. Weeds compete with the crops for the available resources viz., light, nutrient, moisture and space particularly at the initial stages of crop growth period. This reflects to the drastic reduction of yield and quality of final produce. Hence the present study was undertaken with the following objective to assess effectiveness of pre emergence and post-emergence herbicide in comparison with hand weeding on sweet corn. Field experiment were conducted during 2013 at the Annamalai University Experimental Farm, Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai Nagar with different weed management practices to assess the weed control index, yield components and yield in sweet corn (Zea mays. L). Results clearly indicated that twice hand weeding on 20 and 40 DAS (days after sowing) significantly increases the growth and yield components in sweet corn. Highest green cob yield (14560 kg ha-1) was resulted from this treatment followed by atrazine 1 kg ha-1 as pre-emergence herbicide at 3 DAS + one hand weeding at 40 DAS (14265 kg ha-1). The least values of growth and yield components were recorded in weedy check.