Author(s): S. MARIMUTHU AND M. MOHAMED AMANULLAH

Abstract: Field experiment was conducted during winter irrigated season at Department of Farm Management, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore to find out the effect of organic manures and weed management practices on weed control efficiency in cotton. The experiment was laid out in a strip plot design. Treatments viz., farmyard manure, vermicompost, goat manure and composted poultry manure were assigned to main plot; while hand weeding, twin wheel hoe weeding, power weeding and weedy check were assigned to sub plot and replicated thrice. Weeding operations were done at 20 and 40 DAS. Results indicated that among the organic manures, composted poultry manure recorded significantly lower weed density (78.93 No. m-²) and dry weight (25.08 g m-²) which was comparable with goat manure. Among the weed management practices, hand weeding twice at 20 and 40 DAS recorded lower total weed density (55.24 No. m-2), dry weight (26.57 g m-2) and higher weed control efficiency (83.53%) followed by power weeding at 20 and 40 DAS. Based on the results, it can be concluded that application of composted poultry manure along with hand weeding or power weeding can be recommended as an effective weed management practice for better weed control in organic cotton cultivation system.

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