Tembotrione- a post-emergence herbicide for control of diverse weed flora in maize (Zea mays L.) in North-West India

Atrazine was the primary tool available for the control of weeds in maize. Being a pre-emergence, it provides effectivecontrol of some of the annual grasses and broadleaf weeds, but for complex weed flora, maize crop needssome post-emergence herbicide. The efficacy of tembotrione for post-emergence weed control in maize wasevaluated in a field study carried out during summer seasons in 2009, 2010 and 2011 and at farmers’ field in 2012.Tembotrione was applied at 100, 110 and 120 g a.i ha-1 along with 1000 ml ha-1 surfactant as post-emergence(20 days after sowing), atrazine 1000 g a.i ha-1 (standard) as PRE, weed free and unsprayed control were keptfor comparison. Tembotrione at 110 and 120 g ha-1 applied with surfactant 1000 ml ha-1 at 20 days after sowing,significantly reduced density and biomass of grasses and broadleaf weeds as compared to its lower dose of 100g ha-1, atrazine, and unsprayed control. Tembotrione showed reduced efficacy on *. POST application of tembotrione110-120 g ha-1 along with surfactant attained higher grain yields (7.33-7.40 t ha-1) than atrazine 1000 g ha-1,tembotrione 100 g ha-1 and unsprayed control and were at par with a weed-free chec