Abstract

                                Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is second most important staple crop in India after rice. Weeds haveemerged as the major biotic stress in wheat. Post-emergence herbicidal combinations are used widely tocontrol the complex weed flora in wheat crops. Over the past decades, micronutrient deficiency has emergedas major constraint in wheat production, especially zinc and iron. The field experiment was conducted atRRS, Bawal, Haryana, during Rabi season of 2018-19. The experiment was conducted in a randomized blockdesign having 3 replications; each having 18 treatments. Four herbicidal combinations were evaluated assole and tank mixed with zinc or/and iron sulphate. Weedy check and weed free were maintained throughoutthe experiment. The weed index was calculated from the yield of weed free and respective treatment yield.Economic evaluation was made in terms of gross returns, net returns, and benefit-cost ratio. Results ofexperiment revealed that application of mesosulfuron + iodosulfuron @ 14.4 gha-1 was most effectiveherbicidal combination among the tested herbicidal combinations and yielded lowest weed index. Tankmixing of micronutrients with herbicidal combinations further lowered down the weed index and evennegative values were obtained. Tank mixing of herbicidal combinations with micronutrients was moreeconomical than application of sole herbicidal combinations. Highest net returns and benefit cost ratio wasrecorded under mesosulfuron + iodosulfuron @ 14.4 gha-1 + ZnSO4 (0.5 %) + Urea (2.5 %) + FeSO4 (0.5 %)followed by sulfosulfuron + metsulfuron @ 32 gha-1 + ZnSO4 (0.5 %) + Urea (2.5 %) + FeSO4 (0.5 %).

Key words : Wheat; Herbicidal combinations; Micronutrients; Tank mixing; Weed index