Growth, yield attributes, yield and quality as influenced by pre and post emergence herbicides in Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L.)

A field experiment was conducted at the Oilseed Agronomy Block of Norman E. Borlaug Crop Research Centre of Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar (Uttarakhand) during rabi season of 2020-21 to assess the performance of pre (Pendimethalin, Oxadiargyl, and Oxyfluorfen) and post emergence herbicides (Quizalofop and Fluazifop-p-butyl) in managing weeds in Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L.). The soil of the experimental area was silty clay loam in texture with a neutral pH (7.3), high in organic carbon (0.79 percent), available nitrogen is low (234 kg/ha), phosphorus is medium (21.6 kg/ha) and medium in potassium (216 kg/ha) contents. The experiment consisted of ten treatments were laid out in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications. Indian mustard (variety PR-20) was sown at the geometry of 30cm×10cm. The results showed that the application of Quizalofop 5 EC 0.05 kg/ha (Early PoE) resulted in higher growth parameters (viz. plant height, plant dry matter and number of branches), yield attributes (viz. number of siliquae per plant, number of seeds per siliqua, seed weight per plant, length of siliqua), seed (2060 kg/ha), stover (5535kg/ha) and biological (7595kg/ha) yields, oil and protein contents, and oil (889kg/ha) and protein (528kg/ha) yields due to effective control of weeds. Higher net returns (61776Rs/ha) and benefit: cost ratio (2.81) were obtained with the application Quizalofop 5 EC 0.05 kg/ha (Early PoE).