TITLE:
Weed Control Practices and Varying Sowing Dates Effects on Seed Production of Pearl Millet (Pennisetum americanum L.) under Semi-Arid Environment
AUTHORS:
Naveed Arslan, Usman Zulfiqar, Muhammad Ishfaq, Muhammad Ahmad, Muhammad Nabeel Anwar, Azeem Ullah, Iqra Nazar, Asif Iqbal, Muhammad Zohaib Anjum
KEYWORDS:
Sowing Dates, Weed Control Methods, Herbicide, Grain Yield, Pearl Millet
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.9 No.9,
August
30,
2018
ABSTRACT: Peral millet being drought tolerant has substantial
potential to contribute in food security ensuring the food, fodder and
nutritional value in different Asian and African countries. Susceptibility to
abiotic and biotic factors and low productivity
are the main reasons for decreasing productivity and area of millets. In this
context, evaluation of the effect of weed control practices and varying sowing
dates on grain yield of kharif season grown pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum L.) was demonstrated at post
graduate agriculture research station, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad
during 2015. Forage pearl millet was sown at three different sowing dates i.e. mid-June, end of June
and mid-July and four weed control practices viz. weedy check (no weeding),
twice hoeing at 15 and 30 days after sowing (DAS), weed control using
herbicides i.e. application of
Atrazine (Awax 38 SC) @ 330 g a.i. ha-1 at 15 DAS, and twice
foliar applications of 10% Sorghum water extract (Sorgaab) (at 15 and 30 DAS).
The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) under
split plot arrangement, comprising of three replications. The treatments with
varying sowing dates were randomized in main plots and weed control practices
were in subplots. Results showed that the highest plant height (279.51 cm),
leaf area (2777.80 cm2), fresh weight of leaves per plant (155.57
g), maximum number of grains per head (3162.0) and grain yield (3419.7 kg·ha-1) were obtained in the treatment combination of 30th June sowing × twice
weed hoeing (at 15 and 30 DAS) while, maximum 1000-grain weight (8.45 g) was
observed in treatments where weeds were controlled by hoeing (at 15 and 30
DAS). Moreover, cultural weed control practices reduce significantly weed
density, fresh and dry Wight of weeds. In sum, it is concluded that to reduce
the weed-crop competition and to gain higher productivity of pearl millet, field should be weed free 20 - 45 days after sowing.