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Plant Science Today (PST)

Research Articles

Vol. 13 No. sp1 (2026): Recent Advances in Agriculture

Integrated Weed Management (IWM) for sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) under modified spacing

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.11390
Submitted
21 August 2025
Published
22-01-2026

Abstract

The interaction between modified spacing and Integrated Weed Management (IWM) practices on weed dynamics, crop competitiveness and yield remains inadequately understood in sunflower cultivation particularly under diverse agro-ecological conditions. This gap necessitates systematic evaluation to develop spacing-specific IWM strategies for sustainable sunflower production. In the view of this, a three-year field study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of IWM practices on weed control, yield and soil health management of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) under modified spacing (75 cm × 25 cm) during the Rabi seasons (2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24) at the Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS), Nandyal, Andhra Pradesh. The study was carried out using the hybrid NDSH 1012 to assess the long-term impacts of weed management strategies on crop performance and sustainability. The experiment, laid out in a randomized block design (RBD) with seven treatments which includes integrated pre- and post-emergence herbicides, mechanical weeding, hand weeding and a weedfree check. The weed-free treatment (three hand weedings at 15, 30 and 45 days after sowing (DAS) recorded the lowest weed count (0.71-2.70 m-2), highest weed control efficiency (WCE: 89.0-98.7 %) and maximum seed yield (2307 kg ha-1). Pre-emergence pendimethalin (1.0 kg active ingredient ha-1) followed by one power weeding with inter-row rotary power weeder at 35 DAS recorded 2216 kg ha-1 comparable to the weedfree check, with 77.2-90.2 % WCE and weed index (WI) of 4.9-10.1 %. Farmer’s practice (two inter-cultivations + one hand weeding) recorded 2120 kg ha-1 with the highest net returns of ₹ 97595 ha-1 due to reduced labour cost. Soil microbial populations were unaffected by the treatments, indicating biological sustainability. Integrated weed management involving pendimethalin application with mechanical weeding is recommended as a cost-effective and eco-friendly weed control strategy for paddy-fallow sunflower cultivation in semi-arid India. This approach supports sustainable weed management while significantly reducing dependence on manual labour.

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