Weed Management in Bush Type Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata subsp. unguiculata (L) Verdcourt).

A field experiment was conducted at Coconut Research Station, Balaramapuram, Kerala during Kharif 2019 (June to September) to arrive at a cost-effective weed management practice for bush type cowpea. The experiment was conducted in RBD with seedbed preparation as first factor and weed management practices as second factor. Seedbed preparation comprised of stale seedbed and normal seed bed and weed management practices comprised of dried banana leaf mulch alone @ 10 t ha-1, dried banana leaf mulch @ 10 t ha-1 followed by (fb) post emergence application of imazethapyr orquizalofop-p-ethyl @ 50 g ha-1 at 25 DAS, pre-emergence application of diclosulam @ 12.5 g ha-1 fb quizalofop-p-ethyl @ 50 g ha-1 or hand weeding at 25 DAS, hand weeding at 20 and 40 DAS and weed check. The results revealed that pod yield of bush type cowpea reduced by70 per cent due to weed infestation. Stale seedbed significantlyreduced the total weed density and dry weight and recorded higher pod yield compared to normal seedbed. Among the weed management practices, mulching with dried banana leaf @ 10 t ha-1 followed by quizalofop-p-ethyl application (50 g ha-1) at 25 DAS recorded the lowest weed dry weight (3.77 g m-2), the highest weed control efficiency (93%), pod yield (7589 kg ha-1) and B:C ratio (1.71). Pre-emergence application of diclosulam fb application of quizal of op-p-ethyl at 25 DAS recoded higher WCE than hand weeding twice but recorded lesser yield. Among the treatment combinations, stale seedbed or normal seedbed + dried banana leaf mulching @ 10 t ha-1 fb quizalofop-p-ethyl@ 50 g ha-1 at 25 DAS recorded higher pod yield and B:C ratio (7731.7 kg ha-1 and 1.72 and 7446.3 kg ha-1 and 1.70, respectively) with a WCE of 95 and 91 per cent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]