Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2018) 7(11): 1170-1176 1170 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2018.711.136 Influence of Weed Management Practice on Yield and Quality of Onion under Sub-Tropical Condition of Jammu Dechen Angmo * , Sandeep Chopra and Rinchan Dolkar Division of Vegetable Science and Floriculture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology Jammu, Chatha - 180008, J&K, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Onion is an economically important vegetable crop, because of its huge demand all over the World. It is earning valuable foreign exchange of about 70% annually (Panse et al., 2014). Onions are primarily consumed for their nutritional value, unique flavor or for their ability to enhance the flavor of other foods. India is the 2 nd largest producer of onion in the world after china, covering an area of 1306.0 thousand ha with a production of 22.4 million tons (Anonymous, 2016-2017a). In Jammu and Kashmir state onion occupies an area of 2.8 thousand ha, with the production of 65.2 thousand MT. (Anonymous, 2016-2017b). Its productivity is very less as compared to the national average due to number of factors but the main constraint is weed infestation which competes with the crop for nutrients, space and light thus, reducing the yield and quality of the crop through increased production and harvesting costs. Depending upon the nature of intensity and duration of weed competition, weed infestation can reduces bulb yield to the tune of 40-80% (Sharma et al., 2009 and Vishnu et al., 2014). International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 7 Number 11 (2018) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com For yield and quality enhancement production techniques play a critical role. Among the various crop management strategies, weed management is an important practice which significantly contributes to yield and quality improvement of onion. The present study was conducted to compare the efficacy of various herbicides treatments on yield and quality attributing traits of onion. Five herbicides such as pendimethalin, oxyflurofen, alachlor, butachlor and quizalofop ethyl were used alone or in different combinations. All the different weed control practices significantly influenced the yield and quality attributing traits. Among the herbicidal treatments, highest yield was obtained with application of oxyfluorfen 0.15 kg/ha followed by one hand weeding and pre emergence application of oxyfluorfen 0.15 kg /hafollowed by post emergence quizalofop ethyl 0.05 kg/ha. Further, highest values were recorded in same treatments for quality traits such as pyruvic acid and total soluble solids (TSS). Therefore, pre emergence application of oxyfluorfen 0.15 kg/ha followed by post emergence quizalofop ethyl 0.05 kg/ha can be effectively used for weed control in onion under sub-tropical region of Jammu Keywords Herbicides, Onion, Pungency, Quality traits, Weed management, Yield Accepted: 10 October 2018 Available Online: 10 November 2018 Article Info