Karnataka J. Agric. Sci.
,20(2): (375-376) 2007
Physiological Studies on Weed Control Efficiency in Direct Sown Onion
Onion (Allium cepa L.) is an important vegetable crop
and it forms an indispensable part of many diets both vegetarian
and non vegetarian as a flavoring agent. Onion occupies a
prominent place among vegetables and is cultivated
commercially throughout tropical and subtropical belt of the
world. Our country encounters for one third of the world
production in onion due to intensive cultivation. There are
several constraints in direct seeded onion cultivation of which
weeds pose serious problems Onion has very poor competitive
ability with weeds due to its inherent characteristics such as
short stature, non branching habit, sparse foliage, shallow root
system especially under direct seeded situation. Weeds compete
with crop plants for moisture, nutrients, light and space. In
addition they also serve as an alternative host for several insect
pests and diseases. Weed infestation in direct seeded onion is
one of the major factor for loss in yield under assured rainfall
conditions. Yield loss due to weeds infestation in onion was to
the tune of 40-80 per cent (Verma and Singh 1997). The
conventional method of weed control (hoeing or hand
weeding) is labourious expensive and insufficient. Morever
weeding during critical growth stages is not possible due to
increased cost of human labour and its scarce availability. In
addition continuous rains during early crop growth stages hinder
the cultural methods of weed control. Under such circumstances
integrated weed management (involving pre-emergence
application of herbicides and hand weeding) offer economically
suitable alternative. Keeping these points in view the present
investigation was carried out to know the influence of weed
management practices on morpho-physiological, biophysical,
biochemical parameters and yield in direct seeded onion. A field
experiment was conducted at Main Agricultural Research Station,
University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad during Kharif 2003.
The soil of the experimental field was black clayey with pH 7.8.
Available soil nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium were 282.6,
38.3 and 382.2 kg /ha, respectively. The experiment was laid out
in randomized block design with three replications. The
treatments comprised pre-emergence application of alachlor at
1.0 ai/ha, butachlor at 1.0 kg ai/ha oxyfluorfen 0.25 kg ai/ha,
pendimethalin @ 1.0 kg ai/ha and oxadiargyl at 90 g ai/ha as well
as five treatments in combination with one hand weeding at 40
DAS which were compared with weed free check and unweeded
control. In case of weed free check weeds were removed as and
when they emerged.
The sowing of onion seeds of Bellary red variety was
done in the last week of June. The recommended dose of 125 kg
nitrogen, 50 kg P2O5 and 125 kg K2O was applied as a basal
dose. The weed count and weed dry matter from each plot was
recorded at 30, 60 DAS and at harvest using a quadrate of 0.25
m2. The total chlorophyll content was estimated at 60 DAS by
following the procedure of Arnon (1949) and the photosynthetic
rate was recorded at 60 DAS by using portable photosynthetic
system (LI- COR 6400 Inc. USA.). The weed control efficiency
and weed index were calculated by following the standerd
formulae. Major weed species observed in the experimental
plots include Commelina benghalensis, Cyperus rotundus,
Parthenium hiysterophorus, Phyllanthus niruri, Euphorbia
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geniculata and Dinebra retroflexa. The data on phytotoxicity
rating indicated that oxyfluorfen at 0.25 kg ai/ha recorded higher
phytotoxicity on onion crop compared to other herbicides .
Application of all the herbicides caused significant reduction in
the weed population and weed dry weight over unweeded
control. At 30 DAS, significantly lowest weed count was
recorded in oxyfluorfen treatment. At 60 DAS and harvest
significantly lower weed count was recorded in oxadiargyl
coupled with cultural pratices closely followed by pendimethalin
in combination with HW at 40 DAS. Significantly lower weed
biomass at 30 DAS was recorded in oxyfluorfen and
pendimethalin treatments. While, at 60 DAS and harvest all the
herbicides in combination with cultural practices recorded lower
weed biomass than the sole application of herbicides. Among
the herbicides, pendimethalin in combination with one HW
recorded lowest weed biomass. Tewari et al. ( 1999) also
observed sharp decline in weed biomass when pre-emergence
application of herbidies supplemented with one hand weeding
in onion. Earlier workers like Verma and Singh (1997), Jayakumar
and Bharati (2003) also obtained very good results with
pendimethalin in reducing the weed population and increasing
the yield of onion crop. In general, it was concluded that
pendimethalin and oxadiargyl in combination with one HW
registered higher weed control efficiency at all the growth stages
of crop.
The plant height was maximum in unweeded control
because of the lanky growth due to poor exposure to direct
sunlight as a result of smothering effect. The photosynthetic
rate was significantly highest in pendimethalin coupled with
cultural practices, closely followed by weed free check,
oxadiargyl coupled with cultural practices and pendimethalin
sole application. Maximum chlorphyll content was recorded in
pendimethalin in combination with cultural practices. While,
the lowest chlorophyll content was recorded in unweeded
control. The lowest chlorophyll content and photosynthetic
rate in unweeded control was due to the unchecked weed growth,
there by there will be reduction in the availability of moisture,
light and nutrients to the crop. The higher chlorophyll content
and photosynthetic rate in pendimethalin and oxadiargyl
coupled with cultural practices might be due to lower weed
population and weed biomass throughout the growth period.
Significantly highest bulb yield was recorded in pendimethalin
coupled with cultural practices followed by weed free check.
The maximum yield in pendimethalin coupled with cultural
practices may be due it higher weed control efficiency, reduced
weed index, higher chlorophyll content and maximum
photosynthetic rate. The results are in conformity with the
findings of Tewari et al. (1999). Even though oxyfluorfen at 0.25
kg ai/ha controlled weeds effectively but resulted in lower yield
because its higher phytotoxicity on onion crop under direct
sown situation. The economic analysis of weed management
practices indicated that pre emergent application of
pendimethalin @ 1.0 kg ai/ha supplemented with one hand
weeding gave highest net return of Rs. 51, 296 with maximum
B:C ratio of 8.77. Similar findings have been reported by
Rameshwer et al. (2002).
 Karnataka Journal of Agricultural Sciences : 20 (2), 2007

Table 1. Effect of weed management practices on weed count and weed biomass in direct sown onion
Sl. No. Treatments Phytotoxicity
rating on crop Weed Count /0.25 m2 Weed biomass Plant
( g/0.25 m2 ) height at
30 DAS 60 DAS Harvest 30 DAS 60 DAS Harvest 60 DAS
1 Alachlor @ 1.0 kg ai/ha 0.0 9.33 4.00 4.33 4.210 17.21 21.167 65.3
2 Butachlor @ 1.0 kg ai/ha 0.0 6.67 3.00 5.00 4.520 24.71 33.690 71.2
3. Oxyfluorfen @ 0.25 kg ai/ha 8.0 1.33 4.33 5.33 0.930 5.75 11.090 68.4
4 Pendimethalin @ 1.0 kg ai/ha 0.0 3.67 3.67 4.00 0.667 10.50 15.500 70.1
5 Oxadiargyl @ 90 g ai/ha 0.0 4.33 3.67 7.00 1.340 9.16 16.270 68.2
6 T1 + 1 HW at 40 DAS 0.0 5.67 2.67 5.00 4.450 2.41 18.470 65.5
7 T2 + 1 HW at 40 DAS 0.0 5.00 3.30 5.00 4.540 2.55 14.990 70.2
8 T3 + 1 HW at 40 DAS 8.0 1.33 2.33 3.67 1.070 2.40 5.380 68.5
9 T4 + 1 HW at 40 DAS 0.0 6.67 2.00 1.33 0.603 1.78 6.150 69.5
10 T5 + 1 HW at 40 DAS 0.0 3.30 0.00 6.33 0.973 2.30 8.270 68.2
11 Weed free check - 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.000 0.00 0.000 67.8
12 Unweeded control - 14.3 22.7 9.67 10.067 22.17 74.710 75.2
SEm 0.300 0.418 0.255 0.254 0.473 1.397 1.21
C.D at 5 % 0.879 1.225 0.749 0.745 1.387 4.098 3.49

Table 2. Effect of weed management practices on weed control efficiency, chlorophyll content, photosynthetic rate and yield in direct own onion
Sl. No. Treatments Weed Control Efficiency (%) Total Photosynth Weed Yield Net B:C
30 DAS 60 DAS Harvest Chlorophyll etic rate Index (kg/ha) returns ratio
2
60 DAS (mol/m /sec) (%) (rs/ha)
(ms/g fresh wt.)
1 Alachlor @ 1.0 kg ai/ha 58.18 22.37 71.66 0.30 7.65 90.50 1008.75 3394 0.82
2 Butachlor @ 1.0 kg ai/ha 55.10 11.45 54.90 0.30 7.85 91.44 908.75 3054 0.77
3 Oxyfluorfen @ 0.25 kg ai/ha 90.76 74.06 85.15 0.40 7.10 92.82 762.50 1688 0.79
4 Pendimethalin @ 1.0 kg ai/ha 93.37 52.63 79.25 0.31 11.85 23.14 8166.25 35884 7.25
5 Oxadiorgyl @ 90 g ai/ha 86.68 58.68 78.22 0.32 11.53 48.55 5466.25 22707 4.91
6 T1 + 1 HW at 40 DAS 55.79 89.12 75.27 0.31 10.65 57.61 4503.75 17469 3.46
7 T2 + 1 HW at 40 DAS 54.90 88.49 79.93 0.33 11.83 28.55 7591.25 33066 6.76
8 T3 + 1 HW at 40 DAS 89.30 89.17 92.79 0.41 8.25 88.78 1191.25 2931 0.99
9 T4 + 1 HW at 40 DAS 94.01 91.97 91.76 0.45 13.95 7.56 11428.75 51296 8.77
10 T5 + 1 HW at 40 DAS 90.33 89.62 88.93 0.35 12.63 11.21 9433.75 41642 7.53
11 Weed free check 100.00 100.00 100.00 0.44 13.80 - 10625.00 45125 5.64
12 Unweeded control - - - 0.18 5.32 91.62 890.50 953 0.27
SEm 0.054 0.792 401.289
C.D at 5 % 0.159 2.290 1176.810

AICRP on Weed Control B. B. CHANNAPPAGOUDAR

University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad-580 005 N. R. BIRADAR

(Received : January, 2006)

References control and economics in onion (Allium cepa) under cold

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