EFFECT OF DIFFERENT WEED CONTROL METHODS ON WEED GROWTH AND YIELD OF CORN (Zea mays L.)
MAHSA JOOLAEI *
Department of Crop Production and Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Iran.
HOSSEIN GHADIRI
Department of Crop Production and Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Iran.
MANSOOR ZIBAEI
Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Iran.
MOHSEN EDALAT
Department of Crop Production and Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Iran.
BAHRAM HEIDARI
Department of Crop Production and Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Iran.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Weeds are often the major biological constraint to grow crops successfully and an understanding of the criticalweed control is important for developing environmentally sustainable weed management practices to prevent unacceptable yield loss. The field experiment was carried out at Agricultural Research Station of Shiraz Agriculture University, Iran, 2014. The eleven weed control methods, one hand weeding, twice hand weeding, thrice hand weeding, one cultivator, twice cultivator,Atrazine + Alachlor, Atrazine+ Alachlor + Eradicane, Atrazine + Alachlor+ cultivator, Atrazin + Alachlor + Eradicane + cultivator, Weedy check and Weed freewere investigated in a randomized complete block design with four replications.The results showed that weed control methods had a significant difference in weed density, weed fresh and dry biomass, corn growth, and yield. LAI in herbicides treatments was higher than other treatments. The highest biological yield and grain yield was obtained from the thrice hand weeding and the minimum observed from using cultivator. The maximum 1000-grains weight obtained in thrice hand weeding.
Keywords: Corn (Zea mays L.), weed control, atrazine, alachlor, yield