Efficacy of herbicide mixtures on weed density, weed dry biomass and weed control efficiency of transplanted finger millet (Eleusine coracana L. Gaertn)

A field experiment entitled “Efficacy of herbicide mixtures on weeds and productivity of transplanted finger millet (Eleusine coracana L. Gaertn)” was conducted during kharif 2023 at research farm ICAR-DWR, Jabalpur (M.P.). There were ten treatments replicated thrice in Randomized Block Design. Among all the treatments, pretilachlor 30% + pyrazosulfuron-ethyl 0.75% WG at 615 g/ha pre-emergence followed by one hand weeding at 25 days after transplanting (DAT) (T₆), resulted in the highest grain yield (2.98 t/ha), net returns (₹59,726/ha), and benefit-cost ratio (2.46). This treatment caused no phytotoxicity on finger millet and significantly improved both plant growth and yield. Among the different treatments, higher grain and straw yield (2.98 t/ha and 10.81 t/ha, respectively), on finger millet resulted in maximum reduction in weed density, weed dry weight and highest weed control efficiency 86.96% at 60 DAT, plant growth parameters and higher growth and yield attributing parameters (plant height, number of effective tillers, leaf area, leaf area index and total dry matter accumulation) and crop yield attributes (number of earhead/m², number of fingers/earhead, length of finger, weight of earhead, number of seeds/earhead and test weight) were observed with the treatment pretilachlor 30% + pyrazosulfuron-ethyl 0.75% WG 615 g/ha pre emergence fb 1 hand weeding 25 DAT. From the practical and economical perspective of the results obtained, pretilachlor 30% + pyrazosulfuron-ethyl 0.75% WG 615 g/ha pre emergence fb 1 hand weeding 25 DAT enhanced grain yield to 1.45 t/ha (48.65%) and Straw yield to 4.48 t/ha (41.48%) respectively, over unweeded check.