EFFICACY OF SOME COMMON HERBICIDES AGAINST PARTHENIUM WEED

Efficacy of five herbicides viz. Atrazil 38% SC, Ametryn+Atrazine 80WP, Bromoxynil+MCPA 40EC, Butachlor 60EC and Glyphosate 41SL was tested against Parthenium hysterophorus L. Recommended (X) as well as lower doses of 0.75X, 0.050X and 0.25X were sprayed on pot grown 5 and 8 week old Parthenium plants, corresponding to vegetative and flowering stages, respectively. Herbicidal efficacy was recorded in terms of number of days taken by the herbicide to completely kill the target weed. All the applied dosages of all the five test herbicides completely killed the target weed. However, variable herbicidal potential was observed with respect to both type and dose of herbicides. Bromoxynil+MCPA were found to be the most effective where all the employed doses of the herbicide completely killed the weed within 7 days at both the growth stages. Atrazil and Glyphosate killed 5 and 8 weeks old Parthenium plants in 5-10, and 12 days, respectively. Ametryn+Atrazine took 11 days to completely kill the weed at 5 week growth stage as compared to 14 days at 8 week growth stage. Butachlor was found to be the least effective herbicide.