ABSTRACT
Farmers of tomatoes experience significant yield losses due to weed infestation, making effective weed management methods necessary. In light of this, a field trial was conducted in the 2019–2020 dry season to assess the effectiveness of five weed control treatments: Weedy check (control), Butachlor at 1.5 kg a.i.ha-1, Butachlor at 2.0 kg a.i.ha-1, Butachlor at 1.5 kg a.i.ha-1 + HW at 6 weeks after transplanting (WAT) and Hoe weeding at 3 & 6 WAT). These treatments were tested on UTC variety of tomato and replicated three times in a randomized complete block design. The findings revealed that three weed species: Cynodon dactylon, Cyperus esculentus, and C. rotondus were the most dominant among the ten weed biotypes that were found. In comparison to butachlor alone at 1.5 and 2.0 kg a.i.ha-1 that reduced weed population by (35-48%); butachlor at 1.5 kg a.i.ha-1 + HW at 6 WAT and 2 HW at 3 and 6 WAT significantly reduced weed population (30-41%) with a 53–60% efficiency. All weed control treatments significantly outperformed weedy check in terms of growth metrics. Similarly, weed control treatments significantly increased yield attributes compared to weedy check. The highest net return was obtained with hoe weeding at 3 and 6 WAT which was closely followed by butachlor at 1.5 kg a.i.ha-1 + HW at 6 WAT. However, the highest returns per naira invested (1.83) was obtained with butachlor at 1.5 kg a.i.ha-1 + HW at 6 WAT, while the lowest net return and returns per naira (# 550,000 and 0.65 respectively) were noted with weedy check. Hence, for higher fruit yield and economic benefits, the application of butachlor at 1.5 kg a.i.ha-1 + HW at 6 WAT can be adopted by tomato farmers for managing weeds in the study area.
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