Abstract

Increasing labour cost and scarcity has shifted in trend towards mechanization. Rice being a labour-intensive crop method like direct sowing using drum seeder could help in reducing the nursery and transplanting costs. Moreover, chemical weeding for direct sown rice need to be evaluated which could aid in the developing labour crisis. This review article focuses on the chemical weed management practices for direct sown rice. Pre-emergence (PE) herbicides like pretilachlor, anilofos and pendimethalin along with post-emergence herbicides (POE) like azimsulfuron and bispyribac sodium at different dosages and combinations are evaluated using available literature in contrast to manual hand weeding and mechanical weeding practices. It is a known fact that hand weeding is the best management practice till date and chemical combinations showing comparable performance to hand weeding can be chosen for further evaluation. It could be enlightened that the use of pretilachlor as PE followed by bispyribac sodium as POE have shown to be an appropriate, cost efficient weed management practice. Based on this the recommended dosage for application for pretilachlor @ 750 g (active ingredient) a.i./ha on 8 days after sowing (DAS); and bispyribac sodium @ 25 g a.i./ha on 30 DAS for direct sown drum seeded rice could enhance the weed control efficiency.