EVALUATION OF NEW HERBICIDES FOR WEED MANAGEMENT IN CHICKPEA (CICER ARIETINUM L.)

A field experiment was conducted on medium black soil during the rabi season of 2002-2003. The experiment comprising of twelve weed management treatments were conducted in a randomized block design with four replications. The results revealed that the highest mean seed (2937 kg ha(-1)) and stover (3215 kg ha(-1)) yields were recorded under conventional methods involving manual weeding and interculturing as and when required. The pre-emergence herbicidal treatments involving fluchloralin (0.675 kg ha(-1)) or oxyfluorfen (0.120 kg ha(-1)) supplemented with post-emergence application of imazethapyr (0.050 kg ha(-1)) at 30-35 DAS were also found equally effective. Significantly higher values of growth characters and yield attributes viz., plant height, plant spread, number of branches per plant, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod. number of root nodules per plant and seed weight per plant were recorded in these treatments. However, test weight was not significantly influenced by various weed control treatments.