Evaluating the Cultural and Physical Methods and Reduced Doses of Herbicide in Integrated Weed Management of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Weeds are one of the most important factors limiting production of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). In order to evaluate the effect of non-chemical control methods in integration with reduced rates of pyridate on weeds of chickpea field an experiment was conducted in Kermanshah during 2014-2015 growth seasons. The first factor was non-chemical weed management in five levels including wheat- chickpea intercropping, using wheat straw mulch, using cultivator, hand weeding and without non-chemical control and the second factor was application of different rates of herbicide pyridate at five levels including 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% recommended rate(120 g.a.i/ha). Also the weed-free treatment during whole growth season was considered as control. The results showed that the interaction effect of herbicide rate Î non-chemical management was significant (p ≤ 0.01) on weed biomass, kernels number per plant and grain yield of chickpea. At all levels of non-chemical weed managements with increasing the herbicide dose, the weed biomass per unit area decreased. At all non-chemical management levels except straw mulch application, the difference between grain yield of 100 and 75% herbicide rate was not significant, therefore the 75% herbicide rete could be used instead of 100%. Generally with application of non-chemical weed management methods, the herbicide input reduced and also the grain yield of chickpea was not affected.