A.K. Ghorai

Effect of weed management practices on productivity and profitability of jute fibre

A field experiment was conducted at Kendrapara, Odisha to find out suitable and cost effective weed management practices for jute. Different doses of pre-emergence butachlor (both liquid and granule formulation) and post-emergence (quizalofop-ethyl) herbicides followed by (fb) one hand weeding (HW) were tested in jute crop and the treatment effects were compared with unweeded and two hand weeding treatments. Application of quizalofop-ethyl 60 g/ha at 20 days after crop emergence (DAE) followed by one HW at 15-20 days after herbicide application recorded higher weed control efficiency (78.3%), plant height (351 cm), basal diameter (1.40 cm) and fiber yield (2.9 t/ha) of jute as well as higher B:C ratio (2.13) compared to other weed control treatments. Values of the said parameters recorded with the quizalofopethyl treatment were statistically at par with those recorded with two hand weeding. Butachlor 1.5 kg/ha fb one HW at 20 DAE was the next best treatment with respect to weed control efficiency (68.7%), plant height (341.0 cm), basal diameter (1.39 cm), fibre yield (2.64 t/ha), and B:C ratio (1.99). Thus application of pre-emergence herbicide butachlor 1.5 kg/ha or post-emergence herbicide quizalofop-ethyl 60 g/ha in combination with one manual weeding may be recommended to the jute growers as more effective and economic weed control practices compared to the existing manual weeding practice.

Weed smothering in jute with green gram intercropping

Jute (Corchorus olitorius L.), a natural fibre crop, is grown by resource poor farmers of South East Asian countries namely, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand etc. Of late, jute is losing its commercial significance due to the stiff competition from its plastic counterparts. The net return from jute cultivation is poor owing to its high cost of cultivation (Ghorai 2008). About 40 per cent of the total cost of cultivation of jute goes in weeding process alone (Ghorai 2013). The fibre yield loss up to 90% has also been recorded if not weeded at proper time. Selective herbicides commercially used in jute can control monocots and some dicot weeds only (Ghorai et al. 2015). Inclusion of pulses as intercrop in jute smothered dicot and sedge weeds up to 54% (Ghorai et al. 2010). Moreover, this system provides nutritional security, improve soil health and strengthen the economy of poverty stricken jute farmers. There is also scanty information about viable intercropping system in jute with greengram. Thus, the experiment was conducted to develop suitable protocol for intercropping jute with greengram (1:1) that will smother weeds, increase system productivity and strengthen jute farmers’ economy. Weed control efficiency of this intercropping system was also compared with other weed control methods.