The effect and cost benefit ratio of different weeding methods on the yield of chickpea under agroclimatic conditions of district Karak

An experiment was conducted at Agricultural Research Station Ahmad Wala, Karak, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa-Pakistan, during rabi season 2006-07 for elaborating the effect of weeding methods on the yield and yield components of chickpea. The experimental design was Randomized Complete Block (RCB) with split plot arrangement. The experiment was replicated four times with the main plots including three varieties of chickpea whereas the subplots comprised of four treatments viz. hand weeding one time, hand weeding twice, Isoproturon 500 EW and a weedy check. The weedicide Isoproturon was applied @ 0.741 kg a.i. per ha as a post emergence. The data were recorded on number of weeds m-2, number of productive branches per plant, number of pods per plant, number of grains per pod, 1000 grain weight (g), grain yield kg per ha and cost benefit ratio, Number of weeds m-2, number of productive branches per plant, number of pods per plant, number of grains per pod, 1000 grains weight (g) and grains yield (kg per ha) were significantly affected by different treatments. Maximum grain yield was produced by normal hand weeding twice treatment (1429.90 kg per ha) and proved to be the best one, while lowest grain yield (777.95 kg per ha) was recorded in weedicide application. Similarly maximum number of pods per plant (52.50), number of grains per pod (2.42), number of productive branches per plant (6.42), 1000 grain weight (235.58 g) and highest grain yield (1429.90 kg per ha) were recorded in normal hand weeding twice treatment. The Cost: benefit analysis revealed the highest cost: benefit ratio of 1:1:9 in the hand weeding twice. Thus, hand weeding of chickpea twice is recommended for the chickpea growers of Karak, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa-Pakistan.