Abstract

Field experiments were conducted in clay loam soil of wetland farm, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore during rabi, 2011-12 and 2012-13 to evaluate different crop establishment methods and weed management practices in lowland transplanted rice. The experiment was laid out in strip plot design with three replications. The treatments consisted of three crop establishment methods in horizontal strips and six weed management practices in vertical strips. The results of the study indicated that mechanical transplanting at 30 x 20 cm with conoweeding four times at 10 days interval starting from 10 DAT resulted in higher grain yield, higher net returns and B:C ratio. This practice was comparable with mechanical transplanting at 30 x 20 cm with preemergence application of pretilachlor @ 0.75kg a.i. ha -1 + early post emergence application of bispyribac sodium @ 20g a.i. ha -1 coupled with conoweeding at 40 DAT.

Keywords: Transplanted rice, Machine planting, Grain and straw yield, Economics