Taku et al., Biological Forum – An International Journal 15(2): 719-723(2023) 719 ISSN No. (Print): 0975-1130 ISSN No. (Online): 2249-3239 Weed Management Strategies in Summer Blackgram (Vigna mungo L. Hepper) Grown in Sandy Loam Soils of Western Nagaland Anjali Taku, Lanunola Tzudir*, Shivani Kumari and Debika Nongmaithem Department of Agronomy, SASRD, Nagaland University, Medziphema (Nagaland), India. (Corresponding author: Lanunola Tzudir*) (Received: 02 January 2023; Revised: 14 February 2023; Accepted: 17 February 2023; Published: 20 February 2023) (Published by Research Trend) ABSTRACT: Field investigation was carried out during summer season at Medziphema (Nagaland) with a view to find the efficiency of different weed management interventions in managing the weeds of blackgram (Vigna mungo L. Hepper) grown during 2022 with seven treatment comprising of T1: Weedy check (Control), T2: Hand weeding at 20 and 40 DAS, T3: Cardboard mulching, T4: Paddy straw mulching @ 5 t ha -1 , T5: Saw dust mulching @ 5 t ha -1 , T6: Linseed stover mulching @ 5 t ha -1 and T7: Farmer’s practice in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The results revealed that hand weeding at 20 and 40 DAS gave maximum decrease in total weed population (5.58, 6.47 no. m -2 ) and weed dry weight (3.34, 4.41 g m -2 ). Hence, recorded the highest weed control efficiency (85.94%) which was at par with paddy straw mulching @ 5 t ha -1 at 40 DAS (83.84%). Highest growth and yield of summer blackgram was also observed under the same treatment which was at par with paddy straw mulching @ 5 t ha -1 . The treatment with paddy straw mulching @ 5 t ha -1 gave the highest net return (`14863.55/ha) and B:C ratio (1.42) thus was found to be economically better and most effective for summer blackgram among all the treatments studied. Keywords: cardboard mulching, growth, linseed stover mulching, sawdust mulching, weeds, yield. INTRODUCTION Blackgram is mainly cultivated in the tropical to sub- tropical countries like India, Pakistan, Sri-Lanka, Burma and some countries of South East Asia. Black gram is grown in many parts of India since it is a short duration pulse crop. In our country, pulses are grown in an area of 23.63 million hectare with a total production of 14.76 million tonnes and are considered to be one of the largest pulses producing country in the world. This popular pulse goes by various common names like black matpe, urd bean, mash bean, black mung bean, mashkalai, urid etc. India produces about 24.5 lakh tons of urad annually from about 4.6 million hectares of area with an average productivity of 533 kg per hectare in 2020-21 (Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Govt. of India, 2021). In Nagaland, area under blackgram is 680 hectare with a production of about 450 MT. Dimapur leads both in production and area of black gram in Nagaland with a production of about 90 MT from an area of 120 hectare (Directorate of Economics and Statistics, 2021). In India the average productivity of black gram continues to be low mainly due to various reasons which includes poor management practices, non adoption of improved variety and recommended practices, heat and moisture stress, weed infestation, various physiological and biochemical as well as inherent factors associated with the crop. Among these several factors responsible for low yields of blackgram, weed infestation is considered as one of the major factors. Generally, yield loss due to unchecked weed growth in blackgram ranges from 27 to 100% (Mansoorie et al., 2015). Being grown as a subsidiary crop, it is given less care and inputs and in addition to that, weeds pose a serious threat and it competes for the already limited resources like light, moisture, nutrients and space in the field and which leads to a significant reduction in the yield of blackgram to a great extent. This crop needs more attention during summer as along with the crop, weeds also grow more luxuriantly and vigorously due to better sunshine and irrigation during this time. Therefore, it becomes important to control the weeds by suitable methods and practices, especially during the critical period of crop- weed competition (10-40 DAS) in summer blackgram crop. In order to exploit the full yield potential of black gram, it became imperative to undertake such investigations directed towards weed management with the objective to identify the most effective and economical technique for improving the growth and yield potential of blackgram. Biological Forum – An International Journal 15(2): 719-723(2023)