Integrated weed management practices in garlic crop in Pakistan

Weed management studies in garlic crop were conducted during 2000-2001 and 2002-2003 at the National Agricultural Research Center, Islamabad Pakistan. During first year, pendimethalin was sprayed at 0.801 a.i. ha(-1) pre emergence 2 days after first irrigation in moist condition followed by different mechanical weeding regimes. During second year, pendimethalin, oxadiazon, glyphosate, and metribuzin were sprayed at 0.801, 0.251, 0.61, and 0.45kg a.i. ha(-1) respectively, pre emergence 2 days after first irrigation in moist conditions followed by one hoeing at 80 days after herbicide application. Herbicide treatments were compared with weed free and weedy check. The most dominant weed species were Phalaris minor, Cronopus didymus, Medicago denticulata, and Rumex dentatus. All herbicide treatments followed by hoeing except metribuzin gave bulb yield at par with weed free treatment. Metribuzin resulted in minimum bulb yield (0.59 t ha(-1)) because of its extreme phytotoxicity to garlic crop, which resulted in the survival of a few plants. Pendimethalin in combination with manual hoeing gave the highest bulb yield and monetary returns. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.