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In the near future, labour to assist in weed management in the villages will become scarce and expensive,
because of population drift from villages to cities. It is necessary to develop cheaper methods of weed
management that will reduce weed impact on maize yield. A field experiment was conducted at the
Tropical Pesticides Research Institute (TPRI), Arusha-Tanzania during the long rain season of 2017, to
identify control methods for parthenium weed (Parthenium hysterophorus L.). The experiment was laid out
in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replications. Treatments were hand hoeing
(twice), mulches (dry grass and cowpeas), application of 2, 4-D (twice), weed free plots and un-weeded
plots. Data collected include plant height at flowering (m), leaf length and width (m), number of leaves at
flowering, number of days to (tasseling, silking and milking), tassel length (m), number of days to maize
maturity, plant height at maturity (m), number of plants harvested, ear length and diameter (m), number of
kernel rows/ear, number of kernels/row and grain yield (t/ha)at 12% moisture content, parthenium weed
plant height (m), canopy width (m), and number of parthenium plants before weeding, height (m) and
number of parthenium plants at maize maturity. Statistical analysis was performed using Genstat software
(16th edition) and means were separated by Tukey’s mean separation test at p≤0.05. The results show
that, mulches significantly reduced parthenium height and population in the maize crop at maturity
(p<0.05). Plant height at flowering, leaf length and width, number of days to tasseling, tassel length,
number of days to silking, milking, maturity, plant height at maturity and number of plants harvested were
not significantly affected by any of the weed management methods. Thus mulching and 2, 4-D were found
to be the best methods for controlling parthenium weed growth and population. |
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