Chemical and Mechanical Weed Control Methods and Their Effects on Photosynthetic Pigments and Grain Yield of Kidney Bean

To evaluate the integrated management of weeds in red kidney bean, a split-plot experiment using randomized complete block design with three replications was conducted in 2013 in the Damavand County. In this experiment, the mechanical control treatments consisted of two levels (no cultivation and one cultivation) asseigned to main plots and controlling chemical treatments consisted of six levels (non-application of herbicides, pre-emergence herbicide application of Pursuit with full dose of 1 liter per hectare, pre-emergence herbicide application of Pursuit a dose decreased 0.5 liters per hectare, post-emergence herbicide application of Pursuit dose reduced to 0.3 liters per hectare 2 thousand citogate, post-emergence herbicide application of Pursuit with a reduced dose of 0.5 liters per hectare 2 thousand citogate, post-emergence herbicide application of Pursuit full dose of 1 liter per hectar 2 thousand citogate) to subplots. The results showed that the effects of interaction between herbicide application and cultivation for traits of carotenoids, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and total chlorophyll contents, density of weeds and their dry weights were significant at 1 %, and grain yield at the 5% probability levels. The highest bean seed yield with an average of 5461.6 kg.ha-1 and lowest weed dry weight with an average of 345.9 kg.ha-1 were related to pre-emergence herbicide and cultivation with a dose of 1 liter per hectare treatment. The difference between full and reduced doses of chemical weed control was non-significant. It could be concluded that integrated mechanical and chemical weed control not only may increase seed yield but also reduce, environmental hazards.