Evaluation of Herbicide Spray Programmes and Hoeing for Weed Control in Maize (Zea mays L.) In a South Western Nigerian Location

Field studies were conducted in 2003 and 2004 at the experimental site of the Department of plant Science, University of Ado-Ekiti (7 401N, 5 141E) to evaluate the effects of herbicide spray programmes and hand hoeing on weed control in maize. Pre-plant glyphosate (360 g aqueous solution) application to weed regrowth after land preparation followed by early post emergence application of atrazine (480 F) to maize gave the best weed density and biomass reduction and the highest maize yield. The density of grass weeds was lowest in the glyphosate applied plots while the lowest broadleaved weed density was recorded in atrazine sprayed plots. Glyphosate application supplemented with hoe weeding gave comparable weed reduction and good maize yield with the combination of glyphosate and atrazine. It is concluded that effective weed control in grass land maize production could be achieved by a pre-plant glyphosate application followed by post emergence atrazine application to improve maize yield.