Impact of Sorghum extract type , concentration and application time on weeds dry weight , cost benefit ratio and harvest index of Wheat

A field trial was conducted at Agricultural University Peshawar in year 2014-15 to evaluate effect of sorghum extract type, concentration and application time on weeds dry weight, cost benefit ration and harvest index of wheat. Randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications was used. Experiment was composed of two sorghum extract types (stem and leaf extract), three extract concentrations (1:3, 1:4 and 1:5 kg L) and three application time (emergence (E), tillering (T) and 50% at E + 50 at T). Herbicides (H) treated, hand weeding (HW) and control plots were included in each replication for comparison. H treated plots gave fewer weeds dry weight (32.1 g m), more grains spike (50.9), heavier spike weight (3.40 g), more harvest index (H.I) (37.9 %), more gross income (G.I) (Rs.208750 ha), more net return (N.R) (Rs. 175510 ha) and higher value cost ratio (V.C.R) (6.6). Among concentrations sorghum water extract (SWE) applied with 1:3 concentration produced lighter weeds dry weight (66.7 g m), more grains spike (47.6), heavier spikes weight (2.40 g), higher H.I (30.2 %), more G.I (Rs.194653 ha), more N.R (Rs. 156746 ha) and higher V.C.R (5.6). Among application time SWE applied at tillering resulted in lesser weeds dry weight (68.2 g m), more grains spike (45.5), more spike weight (2.90 g), maximum H.I (34.4 %), more G.I (Rs.188025 ha), more N.R (Rs. 157083 ha) and higher V.C.R (5.8). Leaf water extract (LWE) produced lighter weeds dry weight (70.8 g m), more grains spike (45.3), heavier spike weight (2.80 g), high H.I (34 %), more G.I (Rs.189616 ha), less N.R (Rs. 156746 ha) and lower V.C.R (4.8) compared with stem water extracts. It is concluded that LWE applied with 1:3 concentration sprayed at tillering reduced weeds dry weight and increased grains spike, spike weight and harvest index of wheat and is recommended for decreasing weeds dry weight and increasing H.I of wheat and farmer profit in agro climatic condition of Peshawar.

The current study was therefore conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of sorghum extract type, concentration and application time on weeds dry weight, cost benefit ratio and harvest index of wheat in agro climatic conditions of Peshawar.

Materials and methods
The experiment entitled "impact of sorghum extract type, concentration and application time on weeds dry weight, cost benefit ratio and harvest index of wheat" was conducted at Agronomy Research Farm, Agriculture University Peshawar, Pakistan during 2014-15 in RCBD replicated three times.A plot size of 5.4 m 2 was used having six rows each row 0.3 cm apart and 3 meter long.Atta Habib 2010 wheat cultivar was sown on 27 th November, 2015 with seed rate of 120 kg ha -1 .Harvesting was done on 15 th May, 2015 manually with sickle when wheat was physiological matured (completely disappearance of green color from kernels and glumes) and each plot was separately threshed.A basal dose of fertilizer nitrogen @ 120 and phosphorus @ 90 kg ha -1 was used.At sowing ½ of nitrogen and all the phosphorus were applied whereas, the left over nitrogen fertilizer was applied at the time of first irrigation.The source of nitrogen and phosphorus were urea (46 % N) and di ammonium phosphate (18 % P) respectively.The experiment was composed of two sorghum extract type (leaf water extract and stem water extract), three concentration of extracts (1:3, 1:4 and 1:5 kg L -1 ) and three application times (emergence, tillering and 50 % at emergence + 50 % at tillering).Herbicides application, hand weeding and control (no weed check) plots were included for comparison in each replication.No extract was sprayed and no weed check was maintained in control plots.
Weeds were manually uprooted in hand weeded plots.Post emergence herbicides Buctril super 60EC (bromoxynil+MCPA) @ 1.5 L ha -1 and Puma Super 75EW (fenoxaprop-P-ethyl) @ 1.25 L ha -1 were applied 45 days after sowing in herbicides treated plots as broad leaf and narrow leaf weedicides respectively.Knapsack hand sprayer was used for application of sorghum water extract and herbicides.Details of water extract preparation of sorghum cultivar (Johar) were reported earlier by [21].All other agronomic practices such as irrigation and seed bed preparation were kept uniform for all the experimental units.Treatments of the experiments were combined and applied as under.

Data measurements
Data were recorded for weeds dry weight, grains spike -1 , spike weight and harvest index of wheat using standard procedures.For weeds dry weight data, weeds were collected in one square meter area and kept for sun drying for one week.Weeds dry weight data was recorded two times (i.e.70 and 90 days after sowing) in each plot.For grains spike -1 data ten representative spikes were harvested from each plot and threshed manually.Each spike grains number were counted and then averaged.For spike weight data ten spikes were harvested randomly from each plot and weighed with digital balance.Average spike weight was taken in gram for further analysis.Harvest index (H.I) of wheat was calculated in percentage using the given equation H.I (%) = Grain yield x 100 Biological yield Economic analysis Following the procedure developed by [22] value cost ratio analysis was performed to find the most economical treatment on the basis of current market price of each input (Table 5).Gross income (G.I), net return (N.R), value cost ratio (V.C.R) and increase cost (I.C) were computed as under.

Statistical analysis
For statistical analysis, the collected data were analyzed using the analysis of variance technique suitable for RCBD.Variation among treatment means were compared using LSD (Least Significant Differences) test at 5% probability level [23].

Results and discussions
Weeds dry weight (g m -2 ) Sorghum extract type, concentration, application time and stages significantly affected weeds dry weight, whereas all the interactions were non-significant (Table 1).More weeds dry weight (82.8 g m -2 ) were recorded 90 days after sowing (DAS) compared 70 DAS which resulted in 65.1 g m -2 weeds dry weight.Herbicides spayed plots resulted in lighter weeds dry weight (32.1 g m -2 ) compared with sorghum water extract (SWE) sprayed plots (74.0 g m -2 ).Similarly, hand weeded plots gave lighter weeds dry weight (41.3 g m -2 ) compared with SWE sprayed plots (74.0 g m -2 ).Likewise, SWE sprayed plots resulted in lesser weeds dry weight (74.0 g m -2 ) compared with control plots (112.9 g m -2 ).Mean values for sorghum extract type showed that leaf water extract produced lower weeds dry weight (70.8 g m -2 ), whereas stem water extract resulted in higher weeds dry weight (77.2 g m -2 ).Mean values for concentration revealed that lighter weeds dry weight (66.7 g m -2 ) was noted from 1:3 concentration.Weeds dry weight increased with each increase in concentration and more weeds dry weight (81.4 g m -2 ) was noted with 1:5 concentration.Application time showed that SWE sprayed at tillering produced lighter weeds dry weight (68.2 g m -2 ), while SWE sprayed 50 % at emergence + 50 % at tillering resulted in more weeds dry weight (79.8 g m -2 ).Significantly fewer weeds dry weight with herbicides, hand weeding and SWE may be due to reduced weed density and less weeds fresh weight in herbicides treated, hand weeded and SWE sprayed plots respectively.Our results are in line with [19] who reported that herbicide Logron was more effective in reducing weeds compared with hand weeding and SWE sprays.SWE sprayed plots resulted in lower weeds dry weight over control plots.These results are in line with [5, 24-27] who reported fewer weeds dry weight with water extract compared with control.

Grains spike -1
Sorghum extract type, concentration and application time significantly affected grains spike -1 , whereas all the interactions were non-significant (Table 2).Herbicides sprayed plots produced more grains spike -1 (50.9) over SWE sprayed plots (44.6).Likewise, hand weeded plots gave more grains spike -1 (50.0) compared with SWE sprayed plots (44.6).Similarly, SWE sprayed plots resulted in more grains spike -1 (44.6) compared with control plots (40.6).Mean values for concentration showed that less grains spike -1 (42) were noted with 1:5 concentration.Grain spike -1 increased with each decrease in concentration and more grain spike -1 (47.6) were recorded when SWE sprayed with 1:3 concentration.Application time showed SWE at tillering gave higher grains spike -1 (45.8), while SWE applied at emergence resulted in fewer grains spike -1 (43.8), which is statistically similar with SWE applied 50 % at emergence + 50 % at tillering resulted (44.6) grains spike -1 .Leaf extract gave more grains spike -1 (45.3) compared with stem extract (44.1).The increase in grains spike -1 with herbicides, hand weeding and SWE may be attributed to the potential weed control in these treatments and as a result wheat crop exploited all the resources and might caused inception of more spikelets and florets spikelet -1 in plots where few weeds were recorded.The decrease in grains spikes -1 in control plots could be due to more competition of wheat crops with weeds plants for nutrients, light, space or water etc.These results are in line with [5, 18] who reported more grains spike -1 with water extracts compared with control plots.Our results are also in line with [24, 28-30] who reported that herbicides treated plots produced more grains spike -1 over hand weeded and SWE sprayed plots.Spike weight (g) Sorghum extract type, concentration and application time significantly affected spike weight of wheat, whereas all the interactions were non-significant (Table 3).Herbicides treated plots gave more spike weight (3.40 g) over SWE sprayed plots (2.74 g).Hand weeded plots resulted in heavier spike weight (3.20 g) compared with SWE sprayed plots (2.74 g).Similarly, SWE sprayed plots gave more spike weight (2.74 g) over control plots (2.40 g).Mean values for concentration showed that less spike weight (2.61 g) was recorded with 1:5 concentration.Spike weight of wheat increased with each decrease in concentration and more spike weight (2.87 g) was recorded with 1:3 concentration.Application time showed that SWE sprayed at tillering gave more spike weight (2.90 g), whereas SWE applied at emergence gave less spike weight (2.61 g).Leaf water extract resulted in more spike weight (2.80 g) compared with stem water extract (2.68 g).These results are in line with [31] who reported more spike weight with herbicides application and water extract of allelopathic crops compared with control plots.166853 ha -1 ) and V.C.R (5.5) compared with SWE sprayed plots which resulted in G.I (Rs.185914 ha -1 ), N.R (Rs.154249 ha -1 ) and V.C.R (5.0).Economic analysis for SET showed that leaf water extract gave more G.I (Rs.189630 ha -1 ), N.R (Rs.156760 ha -1 ) and less V.C.R (4.8), whereas stem water extract resulted in less G.I (Rs.186147 ha -1 ) more N.R (Rs.157133 ha -1 ) and more V.C.R (7.6).Economic analysis for concentration indicated that more G.I (Rs.194646 ha -1 ), N.R (Rs.162252 ha -1 ) and V.C.R (5.6) were recorded with 1:3 concentration, whereas less G.I (Rs.177215 ha -1 ), N.R (Rs.147505 ha -1 ) and V.C.R (5.2) were resulted with 1:5 concentration.Economic analysis for AT showed that more G.I ( Rs. 188036 ha -1 ), N.R (Rs.157094 ha -1 ) and V.C.R (5.8) were with SWE applied at tillering, whereas less G.I (Rs.183437 ha -1 ), N.R (Rs.150495 ha -1 ) and V.C.R (4.1) were reported with SWE applied 50 % at emergence + 50 % at tillering.These results are in line with [18, 24, 33] who reported that herbicides gave higher net benefit compared with hand weeding and SWE spray.Our results are also in line with [33] who reported that concentrated extract (1:10) gave more net income compared with diluted extract (1:20).

Table 4 . Harvest index (%) of wheat as affected by sorghum extracts type, concentration and application time.
Means of the same category followed by different letter (s) are significantly different at P ≤ 0.05 level using LSD test.LSD for concentration and application time at p ≤ 0.05 = 0.61.NS = Non Significant

Table 5 . Shows economic analysis of control vs. sorghum water extract, hands weeding vs. sorghum water extract, herbicides treatment vs. sorghum water extract, sorghum extract type, extract concentration and application time
ConclusionIt is concluded that leaf water extract applied with 1:3 concentration sprayed at tillering reduced weeds dry weight and increased grains spike -1 , spike weight and harvest index of wheat and is recommended for decreasing weeds dry weight and increasing H.I of wheat and farmer profit in agro climatic condition of Peshawar.