Effect of Weed Management Practices on Growth, Yield of Vegetable Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) cv. Kashi Kanchan

The present investigation contains seven different treatments viz., weedy check (control), weed free check (3 hand weeding) (first hand weeding at 25 DAS), pre-emergence application of Pendimethalin @ 6ml/L, pre-emergence application of Pendimethalin @ 6ml/L + one hand weeding, pre- emergence application of Pendimethalin @ 6ml/L + post emergence @ 40-50 g/ha at 25 DAS, post-emergence application of Metribuzin @ 525g/ha at 25DAS and post-emergence spray of Imazethapyr @ 100 g ai/ha at 25 DAS replicated thrice. The cowpea variety ‘Kashi Kanchan’ was used in experiment. Results of the experiment revealed that though, the weed free check (T2) recorded zero weed population and slightly higher values of growth and yield parameters but among tested treatments, pre-emergence application of Pendimethalin @ 6ml/L + one hand weeding (T4) and pre-emergence application of Pendimethalin @ 6ml/L + Quizalofop ethyl @ 40-50 g/ha at 25 DAS(T5) significantly reduced weed number (48.12 and 52.18/m2) and produced significantly highest plant height (47.30 and 45.98 cm), pod length (21.64 and 20.86 cm), number of pods/plant (35.94 and 34.18), average pod weight(11.18 and 11.06 g), green pod weight/plant (367.84 and 348.63g), green pod weight/plot (11.24 and 10.54 kg) and green pod yield per hectare(118.96 and 111.55q). However, these three treatments (T2, T4 and T5) were statistically at par with each other in terms of growth and yield parameters.Hence, these two weed management practices (T4 and T5) may serve as alternative of manual weeding and may be recommended for farmers of the central plain zone of Uttar Pradesh for higher returns from vegetable cowpea crop.