Control of Ragweed Parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus) and Associated Weeds

Field experiments were conducted to evaluate control of 90- to 100-cm-tall ragweed parthenium in a noncropped situation in Haryana State, India, during 2000 and 2001. Atrazine, 2,4-D ethyl ester, atrazine plus 2,4-D, metribuzin, metsulfuron, chlorimuron, glufosinate with and without surfactant, glyphosate with and without surfactant, and glyphosate formulations MON 8793 and 8794 were sprayed on ragweed parthenium. Also, the effect of water quality was studied with flat-fan and flood-fan nozzles using glyphosate and its formulation MON 8793 against ragweed parthenium and associated weeds. Glyphosate MON 8793 and 8794 at 3.6 kg ae/ha provided excellent control of ragweed parthenium followed by glyphosate at 2.7 or 5.4 kg/ha, with no recovery until 18 wk after treatment (WAT). Addition of 0.1% v/v surfactant (MON 0818) to glyphosate at 2.7 kg/ha provided similar control to that of glyphosate alone at 5.4 kg/ha. Other herbicides failed to provide satisfactory control of ragweed parthenium. In the water quality study, glyphosate at 2.7 and 5.4 kg/ha and glyphosate MON 8793 at 2.7 and 3.6 kg/ha provided similar control of ragweed parthenium at 18 WAT. Glyphosate was antagonized less by tap water (0.45 mM Ca) than canal (0.7 mM Ca) and hand-pump water (1 mM Ca). Neither glyphosate nor glyphosate MON 8793 provided good control of purple nutsedge, velvetleaf, garden spurge, threelobe false mallow, jimsonweed, giant milkweed, Indian jujube, or tropical spiderwort, but crowfootgrass, green foxtail, sprawling signalgrass, and spiny amaranth were controlled. Glyphosate at 5.4 kg/ha and glyphosate MON 8793 at 3.6 kg/ha provided more than 80% control of bermudagrass at 8 WAT, which was significantly better than the 2.7 kg/ha rate. Flat-fan nozzles provided better efficacy of applied herbicides than flood-fan nozzles at 4 WAT on ragweed parthenium.