Chemical Weed Control in Field Pea [Pisum sativum(L.) var arvense]

Field pea [Pisum sativum (L.) var arvense] is an important pulse crop mainly grown as a winter vegetable in the plains of north India. The effect of ready-mix application along with various pre- and post- emergence herbicides were evaluated for effective and season long weed control in pea. Pre-emergence application of pendimethalin +imazethapyr (ready-mix) at 1250 g ha-1 provided excellent control of Coronopus didymus, Anagallis arvensis and Chenopodium album similar to weed free conditions and resulted in highest yield (1795 kg ha-1) among the herbicidal treatments. Post-emergence (2-4 leaf stage) application of imazethapyr alone and its different ready-mix combinations with imazamox at 60-80 g ha-1 provided 86.0-94.0% control of weeds at 60 DAS and resulted the grain yield ranging 1503-1620 kg ha-1.The maximum weed control index at 30 DAS (91.5%) was recorded with pre-emergence application of pendimethalin + imazethapyr at 1250 g ha-1 followed by pendimethalin + imazethapyr (PRE) at 1000 g ha-1 (87.80%). Pre-emergence application of pendimethalin + imazethapyr (RM) at 1250 g/ha gave the highest net return along with the highest Benefit Cost Ratio (2.36) followed by the same combination at 1000 and 800 g ha-1.