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Plant Science Today (PST)

Research Articles

Vol. 13 No. sp5 (2026): Recent Advances in Agriculture

Efficacy of drone-based pre-emergence herbicide application in wet direct seeded rice

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.13139
Submitted
10 December 2025
Published
24-07-2026

Abstract

The study was carried out during the rabi season 2021–22 and kharif 2022 at Professor Jayashankar Telangana state Agricultural University, Hyderabad, Telangana, India. The primary objective was to evaluate the comparative efficacy of various sprayers in controlling weeds in wet direct seeded rice (WDSR) and their influence on yield. The randomized block design (RBD) included 7 treatments of pre-emergence (PE) herbicides applied by knapsack and drone sprayers. The grain yield and weed control efficiency (WCE) with knap sack sprayed treatments was found on par with drone with 1.0 X dose hence drones can be deployed for spraying of PE herbicide. Pre-emergence herbicide dose (0.5 x and 0.75 X) significantly decreasing the WCE and yield.

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