Agriculture expert Dr. Sandeep Kumar Singh tells about prevention of weeds in Kharif crops?

Prevention of weeds | Weeds planted in crops harm the crops in many ways. Farmers do not see the harm caused by weeds because they indirectly harm the crops without causing direct damage. Several types of management are necessary to control weeds.

In addition, some noxious weeds, such as carrot grass and Datura, reduce the quality of crop production. It also threatens the health of humans and animals. That’s why farmers need to pay special attention to their management. Kisan of India had a particular conversation with Dr. Sandeep Kumar Singh, head of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh, and senior agricultural scientist of agronomy, on the weeds used in Kharif crops and their management.

Damage to crops by weeds

Dr. Sandeep Kumar Singh says that weeds are those plants, which are not needed in the field. They are unwanted plants for the farmers. They grow on their own without sowing. These weeds cause 15 to 70 percent damage to the crops. Along with this, they also harm the crops by giving shelter to weeds and insects.

Dr. Sandeep Kumar Singh said that the damage caused to the crop by weeds depends on the harvest, season, and the type and number of weeds. On the other hand, controlling weeds at any stage in the crops does not give equal benefits. Therefore, for each crop, the period of maximum loss due to the presence of weeds has been fixed. This stage is called the critical stage in terms of weed management.

Weeds in Kharif crops

Agricultural scientist Dr. Sandeep Kumar Singh said that the cereal crops grown in Kharif are paddy, millet, jowar, and maize. Guar, cotton, and sugarcane are planted as cash crops. Whereas groundnut, soybean, and sesame are planted as oilseed crops. Farmers plant moong, moth, urad, cowpea, and pigeon pea as pulse crops. Also, farmers mainly grow jowar, bajra, and cowpea for fodder.

Major weeds growing in Bajra, Jowar, Maize, Guar, Groundnut, Cotton, and Pulses are Amaranth, Bhangra, Striga, Makda, Vis Khapra, Hazardana, Wild Jute, Dudhi, Hulhul, Lunia and Sainji. On the other hand, the main weeds that harm the paddy crop are Mahkua, Kala Bhangra, Dilla, Dilli, Motha, Doob grass, Hyacinth, Badi Dudhi, Patharchatta, Hydrilla, Lunia, Makra, Wild Neel, Bandra Bandari, Sathi and Thorny Cholai etc.

When and how to manage weeds?

According to Dr. Sandeep, for the prevention of weeds in modern agriculture, weedicides are mainly used, because it takes less time and they are also easy to use. But these chemicals have a bad effect on the environment. So using other methods of weed control is more useful and effective in the long run. These mainly consist of crop rotation, as crop rotation has been most useful in weed control.

Apart from this, deep plowing in summer, sowing in crop lines, right time of sowing, and mixed sowing of crops should be done. Also, intensive sowing of crops, sowing of fast growing crops, mulching with polythene or crop residues, should be done. By adopting these activities the crop can be saved from weeds and more production can be taken.

Use of cone weeder for weed control

Agricultural scientist Dr. Sandeep said that to save the standing crop from weeds, first hoeing should be done on 20-25 days after sowing with hoes or hand hoe. After this, if necessary, farmers can keep the crop free from weeds by doing second weeding on 40-45 days. In line planted paddy crop, weed can be controlled by removing the weed from cone weeder.

If direct sowing of paddy is done with drum seeder or seed drill, then weeds can be easily removed with cone weeder. Cone weeder should be used in paddy crop for the first time after 20 days of transplanting. For the second time after 50-60 days of transplanting. Keep in mind that urea trap should be done before dressing. With the help of one or two laborers, many acres of paddy crop can be weeded with Cone weeder.

Use of herbicides to control weeds

To protect the paddy crop from weeds, at the time of transplanting, spraying of Butachlor 1 liter per acre active element dissolved in 200 liters of water. It leads weeds to not grow for about 20 to 25 days. To control broad leaf weeds, 2, 4-D @ 400 gm per acre can be sprayed 30-35 days after sowing. For weed management in bajra, spray 400 gm atrazine dissolved in 250 liters of water per acre after sowing. Also, spray pendimethalin 300 gm before germination.

For sorghum and maize, spray 400 grams of atrazine mixed with 250 to 300 liters of water immediately after sowing. To control broad leaf weeds, apply pendimethalin at 600 to 800 gm/acre before germination. Chemicals should be used less in sandy soil and more in medium to heavy soil. For chemical weed control in Guar, fluchloralin or treflan or trifluralin at the rate of 300 grams of active ingredients per acre should be sprinkled in the field and mixed with the soil before sowing the crop.

Also, for the control of narrow leaf and broad leaf weeds, pendimethalin 400 to 600 gm per acre active element can be used before germination. For chemical weed control in cotton, mix Fluchloralin 400 kg active ingredient per acre with soil before sowing. Weed control can be done by applying pendimethalin 400 gm active ingredient, diuran 200 gm active ingredient per acre after sowing but before germination.

To protect pulse crops from weeds, all types of weeds can be destroyed by spraying 300 grams of active ingredient of Alachlor weed mixed with 250 liters of water per acre.

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