PROMISING HERBICIDES FOR WEED-CONTROL IN CHICKPEA

Chickpea suffers severe competition due to Chenopodium album L. infestation. Two to three hoeings are generally given to check C. album, but increasing labour costs and scarcity of farm labour make the manual weeding difficult. Usage of herbicides appears to be a logical solution. Pre-emergence applications of pendimethalin or ametryn alone at 1.5 kg ai ha-1 or one hand-weeding at 35-40 days after seeding following either 1 kg ai ha-1 of pendimethalin, ametryn or fluchloralin or metribuzin at 0.3 kg ai ha-1 applied pre-emergence gave effective control of C. album and seed yields similar to clean-weeded chickpeas. There was an 84% reduction in seed yield of chickpea without weeding.