Influence of paddy straw and polythene sheet mulching on weed flora and their index in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

An experiment consisted treatments of paddy straw mulching @ 6t ha^-1 at 8-10 DAS, black polythene sheet mulching at 8-10 DAS, two hand weeding (20 and 40 DAS) and unweeded control was carried out in randomized block design with 3 replications at Crop Research Farm, Nawabganj, Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) in wheat cv. K1006 during Rabi 2019-20. A wide spectrum of weed flora comprising Phalaris minor, Cynodon dectylon, Avena fatua of grassy weeds, Chenopodium album, Convolvulus arvensis, Anagallis arvensis, Melilotus indica, Coronopus didymus, Rumex dentatus, Fumaria parviflora, Cyperus rotundus and Vicia hirsuta of broad leaf weed and Cyperus rotundus of sedges were observed. Polythene sheet mulching was invariably found more effective to reduce the weed density in comparison to paddy straw mulching and hand weeding. However, paddy straw mulching was also appeared superior to hand weeding. The minimum weed index (3.4%) was recorded under hand weeding followed by polythene sheet mulching (6.72%) and paddy straw mulching (11.79%). The unweeded control recorded (43.09%) weed index. Polythene sheet mulching and /or paddy straw mulching could therefore be exploited to reduce the weed infestation significantly and sustain the productivity and green economy in wheat cultivation.