Assessment of Butachlor, Diuron and Atrazine + Alachlor for Weed Management in Okra

Abstract

Weed interference decreases okra Albelmoschus esculentus L Moench yields Weeding is mostly manual with drudgery and cost unlike the use of herbicides Herbicides identified for okra productivity are few and scarce Objectives of this experiment are to evaluate the tolerance and development of okra to three frequently used herbicides But achlor diuron and atrazine alachlor at 2 0 3 6 and 3 3 kga i ha respectively were screened for weed control in okra Hoe-Weeded HWC and un-weeded plots WDC served as controls Data collected were subjected to statistical analysis Okra establishment was in the order of 91 8 HWC 89 0 butachlor 86 8 WDC 70 8 atrazine alachlor 51 9 diuron But achlor at 2 0kg a i ha was safe on okra Diuron at 3 6kg a i ha was severely 7 8 phytotoxic while atrazine alachlor at 3 3kg a i ha was moderately 4 4 phytotoxic on okra on 0-10 scale Shoot biomass of 7 35g plant in okra grown in butachlor treated plots were similar to 7 90g plant in HWC and greater than 1 4g plant in diuron treated plots 3 5 and 3 45g plant in atrazine alachlor and WDC respectively The herbicides had better weed control than WDC Butachlor had no phytotoxic effect on okra and had okra establishment and shoot biomass comparable with HWC and should be listed for weed control in okra production