Use of Gramoxone 20SL (Paraquat) Prior to Land Preparation in Controlling Aquatic Weeds in Wetland Areas of Bangladesh

摘要

Emergent aquatic weeds present in the monocropped fresh water wetland area of Bangladesh create a hazard in land preparation by developing dense stands. A field experiment was conducted at the farmers’ field of two villages namely Mahilara and Kashemabad under Gournadi Upazila of Barisal district, Bangladesh during October 2012 to evaluate the efficacy of Gramoxone 20SL (Paraquat) in controlling emergent aquatic weeds and to find out an appropriate dose of this herbicide. Three doses of Gramoxone 20SL at 1.96 l·ha-1, 2.00 l·ha-1 and 2.04 l·ha-1 were tried with an untreated control. All treatments were laid out in a randomized complete block design and replicated thrice. There were 8 different emergent weed species infesting the field among which the most dominant weed species were Eichhornia crassipes, Pistia stratiotes, Enhydra fluctuans, Monochoria vaginalis, Echinochloa crus-galli. The results revealed that, weed control efficiency was significantly affected by different herbicidal treatments. The treatments, Gramoxone 20SL at 2.00 l·ha-1 and 2.04 l·ha-1 were controlled in all the emergent aquatic weeds more than 85% infesting both the sites. Application of non-selective herbicide Gramoxone 20SL at 2.00 l·ha-1 prior to land preparation was most effective to suppress weed dry masses in both the site resulting reduced land preparation cost up to 78.93% as compared to manual weed control.