EFFECT OF TILLAGE AND VARIETY ON WEED CONTROL AND YIELD PERFORMANCE OF UPLAND RICE

A. D. Manthy¹, S. Abdulhamid² & I. K. Adamu¹

¹Department of Crop Science Taraba State College of Agriculture, Jalingo

²Department of Basic Science, Taraba State College of Agriculture, Jalingo

Correspondence Address: abdulhamidsabo2@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Weeds are a constant pest of rice and can cause huge crop failure. Field trials were carried out to determine the impact of tillage and variety on weed suppression and yield of upland rice during 2018 and 2019 cropping seasons in Jalingo (8⁰ 54’ N 11⁰ 22’ E). The experiments were 2 factor design comprised of four tillage treatments (minimum tillage, disc plough, disc harrow and disc plough/harrow) and three rice varieties (NERICA 2, NERICA 7 and Local var.) laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) and replicated three times. Data were gathered on weed density, weed biomass, yield and yield components of rice. Results indicated that minimum tillage recorded significantly lower average weed density (97.60 no/m²) (47.80 no/m²) and weed biomass (19.09 g/m²) (7.03 g/m²) compared to average weed density (124.75 no/m²) (80.32 no/m²) and weed biomass (29.49 g/m²) (18.56 g/m²) in disc plough/harrow treatment plots at 5 and 8 WAP. Similarly local var. recorded significantly higher average weed density (107.55 no/m²) (66.30 no/m²) and weed biomass (21.82 g/m²) (14.05 g/m²) compared to weed density (81.09 no/m²) (52.70 no/m²) and weed biomass (15.92 g/m²) (8.33 g/m²) in NERICA 2 treatment plots at 5 and 8 WAP. Significantly higher average grain yield were recorded in disc ploughed/harrowed (3129 kg/ha) and NERICA 2 (3102 kg/ha) treatments plots in both years.

Key words: Weed control, Upland rice, Tillage, Variety