Abstract

The investigation was carried out in the experimental farm of Department of Fruit Science, Dr. Y. S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan (H. P.) to see the effect of different weed management practices on weed population and yield potential of peach cv. July Elberta during the years 2012 and 2013. The experiment was laid out with 13 treatments in randomized block design and replicated thrice. The peach trees of cv. July Elberta were treated with different treatment combinations viz., T1: Pendimethalin (1.0 kg/ha), T2: Pendimethalin (1.5 kg/ha), T3: Pendimethalin (2.0 kg/ha), T4: Glyphosate (0.8 kg/ha), T5: Glyphosate (1.6 kg/ha), T6: Glyphosate (2.4 kg/ha), T7: Pendimethalin (1.0 kg/ha) followed by glyphosate (0.8 kg/ha), T8: Pendimethalin (1.5 kg/ha) followed by glyphosate (0.8 kg/ha), T9: Pendimethalin (2.0 kg/ha) followed by glyphosate (0.8 kg/ha), T10: Pendimethalin (2.0 kg/ha) followed by grass mulch, T11: Grass mulch followed by glyphosate (0.8 kg/ha), T12: Hand weeding at 30 days interval and T13: Control. The results revealed that the treatment combination of grass mulch followed by two applications of glyphosate 0.8 kg/ha (first week of April and second mid-July) was found to be the best treatment for most of the characters among all the treatments and maximum weed control efficiency was registered in T9. Finally, the treatment T11: Grass mulch followed by two sprays of glyphosate 0.8 kg/ha was found to be the most economical (B: C ratio 4.31: 1) for fruit grower's point of view.