Vol. 9, Issue 1, Part J (2025)

A field experiment was conducted in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, during the rabi seasons of 2022–23 and 2023–24 to assess the impact of establishment methods and weed control treatments on wheat (Triticum aestivum) productivity. The experiment followed a split-plot design with three replications, involving four establishment methods in the main plots: zero tillage, zero tillage with chemical stale seedbed, conventional tillage and conventional tillage with stale seedbed. Subplots were assigned four weed control treatments: clodinafop-propargyl + metsulfuron-methyl (60 + 4 g/ha) as post-emergence, mesosulfuron-methyl + iodosulfuron-methyl sodium (12 + 2.4 g/ha) as post-emergence, hand weeding at 20 and 40 days after sowing (DAS), and weedy check. Among the establishment methods, conventional tillage with stale seedbed resulted in higher dry matter at harvest (1059.78 and 1016.89 g/m² during 2022–23 and 2023–24, respectively), effective tillers (328.95/m² in 2022–23 and 310.72/m² in 2023–24), and grain yield (5328 kg/ha in 2022–23 and 4946 kg/ha in 2023–24) while significantly reducing the density and dry matter of total weeds. Among the various weed control treatments, hand weeding twice (at 20 and 40 DAS) was the most effective, as it significantly reduced the density and dry matter of total weeds and achieved the highest grain yield (5413 kg/ha in 2022–23 and 5039 kg/ha in 2023–24). This was followed by the application of clodinafop-propargyl + metsulfuron-methyl at 60 + 4 g/ha, which was superior to other weed control treatments.