RESPONSE OF BITTER GOURD (Momordica charantia) TO CULTURAL AND CHEMICAL WEED CONTROL METHODS
RESPONSE OF BITTER GOURD (Momordica charantia) TO CULTURAL AND CHEMICAL WEED CONTROL METHODS
Luqman1, Zahid Hussain1, Mohammad Ilyas2, Azmat Ali Awan3, Javed Rahman 2,
Mazhar Ali2 and Tamana Bakht4
ABSTRACT
During 2012 and 2013, two field trails were undergone in the farm fields of
Agricultural University Peshawar to assess the influence of various weed management
methods in bitter gourd. The treatments comprised of four mulches (i.e. Rumex crispus,
Silybum marianum, newspaper as mulch, and saw-dust as mulch), a herbicide i.e. Stomp
330 EC (pendimethalin) applied as pre-emergence. For comparison of the treatments with
weed free and weedy conditions, a hand weeding and a weedy check (control) treatment
were also kept. Data were collected on weeds fresh biomass, number of plants ha-1 and fruit
weight. The results showed significant effect for all the parameters during both years. Weed
biomass was the highest (2971 and 3595 kg ha-1, respectively) in weedy control treatments,
and lowermost in the hand weeded treatments (68 and 83 kg ha-1) in 2012 and 2013,
respectively. Moreover, the effect of the mulching treatments and the herbicidal treatments
were statistically quite close to each other but significantly different from the control plots.
The highest number of plants ha-1 (9773 and 8077) and highest fruit weight plant-1(756 and
657 g) were found in the weed free (hand weeded) treatments in 2012 and 2013,
respectively. However, the weed free treatment (hand weeding) was closely followed by the
herbicide, Stomp 330 EC with the respective values in the two years as 8834 and 7301
plants ha-1, and 667 and 580 g plant-1 in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Moreover, the
performance of the mulching treatments was also significantly more effective than the
weedy check plots. Mulches of S. marianum and R. crispus reduced the weed biomass to
1072 and 1615 kg in 2012 and 1297 and 1954 kg in 2013 as compared to the weedy control
with weed biomass of 2971 and 3595 kg ha-1 in 2012 and 2013, respectively. The respective
no. of plants ha-1 for the mulches of S. marianum and R. crispus were 8548 and 8489 in
2012 and 7065 and 7016 in 2013 whereas and the fruit weight plant-1 was 435 and 396 in
2012 and 378 and 344 g in 2013. Keeping in view the good performance of weed biomass
as mulches, the cost of production and the environmental safety, the hand weeding and
herbicide use cannot be preferred alone for use as weed management tools. Therefore, the
herbicide use and hand weeding should be used only on casual basis or in emergency; and
the mulching methods should be adopted in the long run as mulching method is not only
good for weed control but also for maintaining the soil fertility, moisture conservation, and
environmental safety.
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September 2020
Vol. 26, Iss. 3
