~ 934 ~ The Pharma Innovation Journal 2022; 11(9): 934-938 ISSN (E): 2277-7695 ISSN (P): 2349-8242 NAAS Rating: 5.23 TPI 2022; 11(9): 934-938 © 2022 TPI www.thepharmajournal.com Received: 13-06-2022 Accepted: 28-08-2022 Sadaf Iqbal Division of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture Wadura, Sopore, Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, India Mohd Anwar Bhat Division of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture Wadura, Sopore, Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, India Tahir Ahmad Sheikh Division of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture Wadura, Sopore, Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, India Zahoor Ahmad Baba Division of Basic Science and Humanities, Faculty of Agriculture Wadura, Sopore, Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, India Ahmad Abdullah Saad Division of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture Wadura, Sopore, Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, India Tauseef Ahmad Bhat Division of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture Wadura, Sopore, Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, India Fahim Jeelani Division of Agricultural Statistics and Economics, Faculty of Agriculture Wadura, Sopore, Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, India Aamir Hassan Mir Division of Agricultural Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture Wadura, Sopore, Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, India Corresponding Author: Sadaf Iqbal Division of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture Wadura, Sopore, Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, India Bioefficacy of herbicides and impact of different tillage practices on weed population dynamics in sweet corn (Zea mays saccharata L.) Under temperate conditions of western Himalayas Sadaf Iqbal, Mohd Anwar Bhat, Tahir Ahmad Sheikh, Zahoor Ahmad Baba, Ahmad Abdullah Saad, Tauseef Ahmad Bhat, Fahim Jeelani and Aamir Hassan Mir Abstract A field experiment was conducted at Faculty of Agriculture Wadura (SKUAST-K) during kharif 2020- 2021 to investigate the effect of different herbicide combinations and tillage practices on weed population dynamics and productivity of sweet corn. The treatment comprised of two tillage practices (conventional and zero tillage) and different weed management methods including six herbicide treatment combinations viz., T1 (Atrazine 1.0 kg ha -1 (PE) fb. mechanical weeding at 50 DAS), T2 (Pendimethalin 1.0 kg ha -1 (PE) fb. mechanical weeding at 50 DAS), T3 (Atrazine + Pendimethalin (0.75 + 0.75 kg ha -1 (PE) fb. mechanical weeding at 50 DAS), T4 (Tembotrione 120 g ha -1 (PoE) at 25 DAS, T5 (Atrazine 1.0 kg ha -1 (PE) fb. Tembotrione 120 g ha -1 (PoE) at 25 DAS, T6 (Pendimethalin 1.0 kg ha -1 (PE) fb. Tembotrione @ 120 g ha -1 (PoE) at 25 DAS, T7 Weed free (mechanical weeding at 15, 30, 45, 60 DAS) and T8 (Weedy check). The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replications. The soil of the experimental field was silty clay loam in texture, neutral in reaction with medium N (287 kg ha -1 ) and P (12.75 kg ha -1 ) and medium in K (187.0 kg ha -1 ).Significant variation in weed density and weed dry matter accumulation was recorded in conventional tillage in comparison to the zero tillage. Study reveals that among different weed management methods significant reduction in weed density and weed dry matter accumulation was observed in weed free (T7) followed by treatment T5 which showed significant difference from rest of the treatments. Significantly, highest weed density and weed dry matter accumulation was found in weedy check (T8). Two years experiment revealed that the efficient control of weeds in weed free plot resulted in highest green cob yield 207.27 q ha -1 and 222.27q ha -1 , respectively which was found at par with (T 5) 206.28 q ha -1 and 221.28 q ha -1 , respectively because of efficient control of weeds by atrazine 1.0 kg ha -1 given as pre-emergent followed by tembotrione 120 g ha -1 as PoE hebicide. Similarly conventional tillage resulted in highest green cob yield 187.97 q ha -1 and 202.97 q ha -1 over zero tillage 161.46 q ha -1 and 176.25 q ha -1 , respectively. Keywords: Conventional tillage, zero tillage, weed management, atrazine, Pendimethalin, tembotrione, sweet corn, green cob yield Introduction Traditional tillage methods have long been used to raise key crops such as maize, but they are today considered to be labour and fuel intensive activities. As a result, switching from conventional to zero tillage would save energy while also conserving soil and water. Furthermore, zero tillage lowers the cost of field preparation (Singh et al., 2001) [17] , and yield returns are comparable to, or even exceed, conventional tillage in some circumstances (Memon et al., 2012) [5] . Weeds inflict significant harm to maize crops, with losses ranging from 30 to 50 percent depending on the weed population. Weeds diminish crop yield by competing for light, water, nutrients, and carbon dioxide, cause harvesting problems, and raise crop production costs, depending on the type of weed flora, severity, and length of crop weed competition (Oerke, 2005) [8] . Maize yield losses range from 28 to 93 percent (Lal and Saini, 1985) [3] and even 100 percent (Patel et al., 2006) [10] due to unmanaged weed growth (Angiras and Singh, 1988; Karki et al., 2010) [1, 2] Due to rising labour costs and an insufficient availability of labour in a timely manner, it is required to develop less expensive weed control strategies using herbicides or herbicides in combination with other non-chemical approaches.