Chemical control of broadleaf weeds in autumn-sown rainfed chickpea

Weed control is the most important constraint of autumn-sown chickpea production. Field experiments were conducted at three sites to evaluate the yield response of autumn-sown rainfed chickpea and weed control with PRE pendimethalin, POST pyridate, PRE isoxaflutole, preemergence (PRE) and postemergence (POST) of imazethapyr through hand-weeded, untreated and weed free checks. The results showed that pyridate was the safest option for weed control in chickpea. The highest grain yield of chickpea was obtained with application of pyridate followed by isoxaflutolein three sites. Imazethapyr and metribuzin caused higher visual injuries than the other treatments. Furthermore, the applications of pyridate, isoxaflutole, metribuzin, and pendimethalin, as well as PRE and POST imazethapyr were found to reduce the total weed densities (averaged for three locations) by as much as 76, 75, 75.4, 43, 64, and 64.5% within 30 days after treatments, respectively.