Effect of Post-Emergence Herbicides on the Growth and Yield of Up-Land Cotton

An experiment was laid out at Students Farm, Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam, Pakistan. Cotton variety Shahbaz-95 was treated with weed control treatments (Stomp-330 EC at 3 L ha-1, Stomp-330 EC at 4 L ha-1, Stomp-330 EC at 5 L ha-1, Fusilade at 3 L ha-1, Fusilade at 4 L ha-1, hand weeding and untreated check). Among the twelve weed species observed in the cotton field Trianthema portulacastrum (29.56%), Cyperus rotundus (17.24%), Portulaea oleracea (14.78%) and Digerea arvensis (10.47%) were the dominant weeds, while other weed species were in trace. Weed population recorded before herbicide application ranged between 63.71 - 65.13 m-2. Hand weeding and application of Stomp-330 EC at 5 L ha-1 reduced weed density significantly (92.40 and 91.59%) over other weed control measures, which in turn resulted taller plants (158.50 and 155.60 cm), exhibited more fruiting branches (14.09 and 13.50 plant-1), higher productive bolls (82.39 and 80.78 plant-1) and maximum seed cotton yield (2121.75 and 1957.50 kg ha-1).