A Review on Integrated Weed Management in Transplanted Rice

Rice plays a pivotal role in agrarian economy of the most of the Asian and South east Asian nations particularly India. Transplanted rice crop suffers much from biotic production constraints among which weed competition is the important one. The reduction in paddy yield ranges from 9-51 per cent due to infestation of wide range of weed species viz. grasses, sedges and broadleaved weeds. The severity of yield loss is aggravated further when weed infestation coincides with critical period of rice growth depriving it from moisture, nutrients, sunlight and acting as alternate host to some pests and diseases. The cost of weed management in transplanted rice is higher than other operations due to exorbitant wage rate combining with low efficiency moreover due to scarcity of labour during peak period, weeding operation has become a cumbersome, time consuming and costly affair for rice farmers. Therefore, herbicide technology offers a mutual inclusive method of selective and economical control of weeds right from the beginning and forms a major component of integrated weed management of rice farming for reaping bumper yield.