Ruchika Choudhary, Arvind Verma, Jagdish Choudhary, Ravi Kant Sharma, Devendra Jain, Pokhar Rawal, Kannoj and Manish Tomar
Abstract
A field investigation was conducted during 2023-24 and 2024-25 at the instructional farm, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Udaipur, to evaluate the combined influence of tillage and weed management practices on the growth and quality attributes of maize (Zea mays L.) under the sub-humid conditions of Southern Rajasthan. The experiment was laid out in a split-plot design with four tillage practices viz., conventional tillage (CT), conventional tillage with residue (CT+R), zero tillage (ZT) and zero tillage with residue (ZT+R) in main plots along with three weed management strategies i.e., atrazine + tembotrione (500 + 120 g ha-1) as post-emergence (PoE), atrazine 500 g ha-1 as pre-emergence (PE) followed by hand weeding at 35 DAS and weedy checkin subplots. The results revealed that tillage systems did not significantly affect crop growth rate (CGR), relative growth rate (RGR). However, weed management exerted a marked influence, with atrazine 500 g ha-1 as PE followed by hand weeding at 35 DAS producing the highest CGR and RGR, closely followed by the atrazine+tembotrione tank mix treatment. Further tillage and weed management didnât not exerted significant influence on chlorophyll and protein content in maize.