Abstract
An on farm trial was conducted on five farmer fields in the Bageshwar district of Uttrakhand, India during 2007-08 and 2008-09.The objective of the study was to validate and popularize the technology developed by the Vivekananda Institute of Hill Agriculture, Almora, India for managing Buttercup (Ranunculus sp.). The aim of the study was to determine the effectiveness of 2,4-D @ 1.0 kg a.i. / ha, isoproturon @ 1.0 kg a.i. / ha and tank mix application of 2,4-D @ 0.5 kg a.i. / ha with isoproturon @ 1.0 kg a.i. / ha over farmers practice of hand weeding twice at 30 & 60 days after sowing (DAS) and unweeded control on managing Rananculus sp. and other weeds and the profitability of wheat (Triticum aestivum L. emend. Fiori & Paol.). One spray of tank mix application of 2, 4-D @ 0.5 kg a.i. / ha with isoproturon @ 1.0 kg a.i. / ha at 35- 40 DAS reduced the density and dry weight of Ranunculus and other weeds by 88 % and 78 % , respectively over the farmers’ practice. There was a higher uptake of nutrients by wheat (73.5 kg N, 11.6 kg P and 60.0 kg K / ha) with concurrently lower uptake by weeds (3.9 kg N, 0.9 kg P and 6.2 kg K / ha). It also recorded 12.5 % higher wheat grain yield compared with those of farmers practice (3.2 tonnes / ha). This treatment also recorded net return of Rs. 19,030 and B: C ratio of 0.79 over farmers practice (Rs. 13,250 and 0.52 respectively). With this technology, drudgery reduction of about 30-40 man days / hectare can be made possible, which could be used in other fruitful activities of hilly farmers particularly women.
