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Allelopathic crops can provide organic alternative to manage herbicides resistant littleseed canarygrass (Phalaris minor Retz.) We used mulch of four potential allelopathic crops, including sorghum, maize, sunflower and rice at 0, 6, 9 and 12 tons ha-1 to manage herbicide resistant littleseed canarygrass. Repeated pot experiment was conducted under greenhouse at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan, from November, 2015 to March, 2016. Results revealed that significant inhibition in emergence percentage, shoot length, root length and dry biomass of littleseed canarygrass was observed three weeks after mulch application of four allelopathic crops. This inhibition was sustained with time and caused significant reduction in plant height, dry biomass, spike length and number of seeds produced per plant at maturity. Mulches of sorghum, maize, sunflower and rice at 12 tons ha-1 caused up to 38, 25, 29 and 41% inhibition in plant height, dry biomass, spike length and number of seeds per plant respectively. Weed control efficiency of four allelopathic crop mulches was ranging 20 to 25% at mulch dose of 12 tons ha-1. However, mulches at lower doses caused growth stimulation in few growth traits. On the base of this study we conclude that these allelopathic crop mulches can be used to control herbicide resistant littleseed canarygrass due to their strong phytotoxic potential and may provide basis to develop natural herbicides to control this grass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A field experiment was carried out to study the effect of different doses of a new herbicide namely formasulfuron + isoxadifen ethyl + iodosulfuron-methyl-sodium in comparison with atrazine+S-metolachlor on weeds and yield of maize (Zea mays L.) planted in spring and autumn season. Experiment comprised six treatments: weedy check, manual hoeing, atrazine + S-metolachlor (Primextra gold-720SC) 1080 g a.i. ha-1, formasulfuron + isoxadifen ethyl + iodosulfuron-methyl-sodium (Maister-61WG) 152.5, 190.39, 228.75 g a.i. ha-1 sprayed as post-emergence at 20 days after sowing of crop. Formasulfuron + isoxadifen ethyl+iodosulfuron-methyl-sodium 228.75 g a.i. ha-1 gave 41.2% to 63.9% control of Cyperus rotundus and 90.3 to 94.4% control of Achyranthus aspera in spring maize while control of C. rotundus and Trianthema portulacastrum in autumn maize was 56.2 to 61.9% and 85.2 to 86.5%, respectively. Grain yield ranged from 4.60 to 5.63 t ha-1 with formasulfuron + isoxadifen ethyl + iodosulfuron-methyl-sodium 228.1 g a.i. ha-1 in both the seasons. Grain yield was highest with atrazine + S-metolachlor in both the seasons (5.2-5.8 t ha-1). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A pot experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of burial depth on seed emergence of Avena fatua, Phalaris minor, Lolium temulentum, Lathyrus sativus, Lathyrus aphaca and Vicia sativa. Three cereals namely Hordeum vulgare, Triticum aestivum and Avena sativa were also included for comparison. Buried depth was maintained one, two, three, five, ten, fifteen and thirty centimeters in sandy loam soil. None of weed and crop seed emerged at 15 and 30 cm depth while L. temulentum and P. minor failed to emerge at 10 cm sowing depth. Seed burial depth of 3 cm inhibited emergence of P. minor. The emergence of L. temulentum was lowered at only 1 cm depth. Three cereal crop seeds took less number of days to initiate and complete seedling emergence as compared to weed seeds at 1, 2 and 3 cm depth, while in weed species three broad leaved weeds i.e. L. sativus, L. aphaca and V. sativa took longer time to complete seedling emergence. Vicia sativa showed 10c% emergence at 5 and 10 cm depth. Vicia sativa started emergence earlier and took maximum (68) number of days to complete emergence than all other weed species tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A field experiment comprised of six treatments, namely weedy check, manual hoeing, pendimethalin + prometryn at application rates of 525, 700, 875 and 1050 g.a.i. ha-1 was carried out to develop best weed control option in sesame. The data on weed biomass, weed density and yield parameters of sesame was recorded. Among herbicide treatments, the maximum yield was observed in pendimethalin + prometryn at the rate of 875 g. a. i. ha-1, whereas the application of pendimethalin + prometryn at 1050 g. a. i. ha-1 gave the best weed control result but had phytotoxic effect on growth of sesame resulting in decreased yield. The maximum yield, weed index and lowest weed density, biomass and persistence were recorded in manual hoeing treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]