Herbicide efficacy on weed management, yield and profitability of soybean (Glycine max L.) under Himalayan conditions

A field experiment was conducted during the kharif - 2023 at the Agronomy Research Farm, CSK HPKV Palampur to evaluate the efficacy of various herbicides on weed control, productivity, and profitability of soybean. The experiment conducted using a Randomised Block Design with ten treatments, each replicated thrice. The findings revealed that in untreated plots, the weed flora comprised of 66.13% grasses, 13.44% sedges, and 20.43% broad-leaved weeds. Among the treatments, pre-emergence application of sulfentrazone + clomazone at 725 g/ha recorded the lowest weed count and dry weight, followed by pendimethalin + imazethapyr at 800 g/ha which yielded 1430.00 and 1385.33 kg / ha respectively. However, hand-weeding treatment resulted in higher grain yields 1529.67 kg/ha but less return per rupees invested as compared to best herbicide treatments. Hence, the pre-emergence application of sulfentrazone + clomazone was effective in enhancing weed control and economic returns in soybean cultivation under mid-hill conditions.