Effect of different weed control treatments on growth and yield of hybrid maize

Field experiment was conducted during summer 2024 at Garden land of Experimental farm, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, Chidambaram Taluk, Cuddalore District, Tamil Nadu to evaluate the effect of different weed management practices in hybrid maize. The field experiment was laid out in Randomized block design (RBD) with three replications. Among the herbicidal treatments evaluated, pre emergence application of atrazine @ 1.0 kg ha-1 followed by hand weeding on 30 DAS which helps in reducing weed density and ultimately reduced weed biomass which resulted in increase in crop growth and yield and it was on par with pre emergence application of atrazine @ 1.0 kg ha-1 fb post emergence application of tembotrione @ 120g ha-1 on 25 DAS. This might be due to maintenance of weed free environment, particularly throughout vital growth stages of crop, cut back crop weed competition helped in higher growth and development of hybrid maize crop leading to higher grain yield.