IMPACT OF ORGANIC WEED MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON WEEDS CONTROL, GROWTH AND YIELD OF MAIZE (Zea mays L.)

This field experiment on organic weed managament practices was conducted during rabi,2021-22 at wetland farm of S.V. Agricultural College, Tirupati, with 10 management practices in arandomized block design and replicated thrice. Among all the organic weed management practices,lower weed density and dry weight with higher weed control efficiency and weed control indexwas recorded with corn gluten meal 3.5 t ha-1 as pre-emergence (PE) followed by hand weeding(HW) at 30 days after sowing (DAS), however, it was statistically comparable with HW twice at 15DAS and 30 DAS. Significantly higher growth parameters, yield attributes and kernel and stoveryield of maize were recorded with corn gluten meal 3.5 t ha-1 as pre-emergence followed by HWat 30 DAS over rest of the treatments. The next best treatment in reducing density and dry weightof weedswith higher growth parameters, yield attributes and yield was HW twice at 15 DAS and30 DAS, which was however, at par with groundnut shells mulch 12.5 t ha-1 and mango leavesmulch 5 t ha-1.