Effect of Weed Interference and Plant Density on Maize Grain Yield

Abstract

Maize is one of most important food crop grown in Benishangul Gumuz Regional State, Ethiopia. However, its productivity is very low due to  inappropriate weed and soil nutrient management and lower plant density. Thus, a field experiment was carried out during 2016/17 cropping season to  evaluate effect of weeding frequency and plant densities on yield, and yield components of maize at Assosa Agricultural Research Centre. The treatments  consisted of four levels of weeding frequencies (weedy check, once hand weeding, twice hand weeding and weed free) and four levels of plant densities  (31,250,44,444, 53,333 and 62,500 plants ha^-1), which were factorial arranged in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The  results of the study revealed that grain yield was significantly (P<0.01) affected by the main effects of weeding frequency and plant density. The highest  grain yields (7394.5, and 7273.6 kg ha^-1) were recorded for weed free and twice hand weeding, respectively and the lowest grain yield (918.9 kg ha^-1) from  the weedy check. The highest grain yield (5485.8 kg ha^-1) was obtained at a plant density of 53,333 plants ha-1 and the lowest (4457.2 kg ha^-1) at a  density of 31,250 plants ha^{- 1}. Grain yield was much more reduced due to competition from weeds (87.5%) than due to low plant density (18%). Significant  interaction effect of weeding frequency and plant density was observed on number of ears plant^-1, number of kernel rows ear^-1, above  ground dry biomass and relative grain yield loss. Twice hand weeding and a plant density of 53,333 plants ha^-1 would be some more suitable practices for  attaining optimum grain yield for the hybrid maize BH 546 in the study area.