INTEGRATED WEED MANAGEMENT IN MANGO Next End

INTRODUCTION Mango (Magifera indica L.) occupies major area under fruits in the country. It is adaptable to a wide range of soil and climatic conditions provided severe and recurring frosts in winter do not endanger the young trees (Anon., 1980). There are numbers of varieties grown in India and some are of export quality. Veneer grafting and stone grafting are found to be the best method for mango propagation. Next Previous End

INTEGRATED WEED MANAGEMENT IN MANGO The major monocot weeds that occur in mango orchards are Cynodon dactylon and Cyperus rotundus and dicot weeds are Bidens pilosa, Tridax procumbens and Phyllanthus maderaspatensis. Next Previous End

INTEGRATED WEED MANAGEMENT IN MANGO Weed management methods Hand weeding Mechanical method Cover cropping Chemical control Next Previous End

INTEGRATED WEED MANAGEMENT IN MANGO Hand weeding Usually, manual method of weed control is adopted at this time due to young nature of mango plants by employing women labour. They use small hand tools (khoorpi) for removing weeds in basins and between rows of plants. Next Previous End

INTEGRATED WEED MANAGEMENT IN MANGO Mechanical method When the orchards comes of age, i.e., between 8 and 10 years, mechanical method of weeding by using bullock drawn implements or motor un tractors and tillers with special weeding tools attachments are employed for effective weed control. Next Previous End

Mechanical method The type and nature of tools used in mechanical method depend upon the row spacing adopted for orchard. And in an average type of mango orchard, three to four ploughing (machine or bullock drawn) are enough in a year. Next Previous End

INTEGRATED WEED MANAGEMENT IN MANGO Cover cropping Cover cropping is another practice followed in mango orchard to suppress the growth of weeds, to bring additional income to the grower until the trees begin to bear and improve the health of trees if the intercrops grown are of right type. The recommended intercrops in mango orchards for summer season are bottle gourd, bitter gourd, onion, chilies, cowpea, black gram and green gram. For winter season, the intercrops suggested are peas, turnip, cauliflower, carrot, radish and gram. Next Previous End

INTEGRATED WEED MANAGEMENT IN MANGO Chemical control Herbicides have been used to some extent in mango to control weeds. Application of paraquat (3.0kg a.i./ha) give good control of weeds in mango or diuron as pre emergent treatment at 6.67 and 8.9 kg/ha. Next Previous End

Chemical control Bromacil and dalapon were also effective for controlling dicot and monocot weeds respectively. One spray of atrazine or diuron at 2.0 kg a.i./ha as pre emergent treatment to soil and one spray of paraquat as post –emergent spray on weeds at 3.0kg a.i./ha effective for controlling both monocot and dicot weeds in one to five years old mango orchard. Next Previous End