Effect of Weed Management Practices of Small Onion (Allium cepa var. Aggregatum) Nursery on the Weed Flora, Weed Control Efficiency and Seedling Production

Control of weeds in nursery is necessary for production of healthy and sturdy seedlings. In this regard, field experiments were conducted to study the effect of different weed management practices on weed control efficiency and performance of onion seedling in nursery at two phases. The results from the first experiment revealed that, among the herbicide treatments, lowest weed density and weed dry weight was observed in Pre-emergence (PE) application of oxyfluorfen at 0.250 kg a.i ha-1 followed by PE application of oxyfluorfen at 0.125 kg a.i ha-1. Whereas, the highest weed control efficiency was observed in hand weeded plots followed by pre-emergence application of oxyfluorfen at 0.250 kg a.i ha 1. In the second experiment, lower weed density, weed dry weight and higher weed control efficiency was observed in lay by application oxyfluorfen @ 0.125 kg ha-1 as PE + 2nd application @ 0.0625 kg ha-1 at 20 DAS. Seedling characters viz., higher root length, seedling height, 100 seedling weight and seedling yield was recorded in PE application of oxyfluorfen at 0.125 kg a.i ha-1 and PE application of oxyfluorfen at 0.125 kg a.i ha-1 + oxyfluorfen at 0.0625 kg a.i ha-1 (lay by) at 20 DAS in the first and second experiments respectively.