Effect of Weeds Infestation Rate on the Grain Yield and Yield Components of Lentil (Lens culinaris med.) Under Rainfed Conditions

Abstract

To investigate the effect of the weed infested and weed free conditions on the grain yield and yield components of lentil (Lens culinaris Med.), fields experiments were carried out during rabi growing season 2010-11 and 2011-12 under rainfed conditions at Barani agricultural Research Institute, Chakwal, Pakistan.Lentil grain yields were decreased on average by 62.27% when crop areas remained weed infested until harvest compared with weed free conditions throughout the cropping season. As the rate of weed infestation decreased, grain yields enhanced. The diminution in grain yields (kg/ha) in lentil because of different infestation rate of weeds occurred mostly through the reduced number of pods/plant, which in turn was somewhat the result of reduced number of secondary branches/plant.

Keywords: Grain yield, weed, infestation rate, rainfed, lentil