LAUSR

Sorghum allelopathy can be a vital tool in curbing weeds in maize as substitute to hazardous chemical weedicides to mitigate environmental pollution. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of sorghum water extracts (SWE) and sorghum mulch (SM) for controlling Echinochloa colona (L.) Link (jungle rice) in hybrid maize (HC-8080). For this purpose, a field experiment was executed with allelopathic treatments which were SWE @ 15 L ha (foliar sprayed at 15 days after sowing (DAS), SWE @ 15 L ha (sprayed at 15 & 30 DAS), SWE @ 15 L ha (sprayed at 15, 30 & 45 DAS), SM @ 8 t ha, SM @ 8 t ha + SWE @ 15 L ha and control. Results showed that SWE @ 15 L ha (sprayed at 15, 30 & 45 DAS) reduced jungle rice weed density by 65%, its fresh weight by 49% and dry weight by 58% as compared control. Besides, this treatment increased number of grains cob, 1000-grains weight and grains yield each by 25% over control. However, application of SM @ 8 t ha alone was not very effective but gave better results when combined with SWE@ 15 L ha. It was concluded that sorghum water extract can be used as natural jungle rice weed inhibitor in maize.