Effect of Post-Emergence Herbicides on Productivity and Profitability of Garden Pea (Pisum sativum L.) in Lahaul Valley of Himachal Pradesh

A field experiment was conducted during summer 2013 at Highland Agricultural Research and Extension Centre, CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Kukumseri to study the effect of post-emergence herbicides viz. imazethapyr 50 and 80 g/ha, pendimethalin + imazethapyr 900 and 1200 g/ha, imazethapyr + imazamox 50 and 75 g/ha and clodinafop 60 g/ ha in relation to pre-emergence pendimethalin 1200 g/ha and hand weeding twice on weeds and yield and economics of garden pea. Digitaria sanguinalis L. was the predominant grass weed while Chenopodium album L., Chenopodium botrys L., Gallinsoga parviflora L. and Malva parviflora L. were the major broad-leaf weeds. Pendimethalin at 1200 g/ha significantly reduced weed density and dry weight. This was followed by hand weeding twice (30 and 60 DAS). Pendimethalin resulted in maximum weed control efficiency (65.81%) and herbicide efficiency index (74.13%) and was followed by clodinafop 60 g/ha. Pod weight was not significantly affected. The highest pods/plant, green pods yield (2833 kg/ha), crop productivity (41.06 kg/ha/day), net returns (` 76294/ha), crop profitability (` 1105.71/ha/day) and B:C ratio (3.06) were recorded under pendimethalin 1200 g/ha. Clodinafop 60 g/ha and hand weeding twice had equal pods/plant and green pod yield. Among post-emergence herbicides, clodinafop 60 g/ha, imazethepyr 50 g/ha and imazethapyr + imazamox 50 g/ha were the economical treatments.