integrated weed control in corn (zea mays l.) through combinations of seed priming and reduced dosages of herbicides

Field experiments were conducted during 2017 and 2018 to evaluate the efficacy of herbicidesnicosulfuron and eptc alone or in combination with seed priming on weed control and cornyield. nicosulfuron (80 g/a.i./ha^‒1) was applied at four to six-leaf stage of corn as postemergenceand eptc (4920 g/a.i./ha^‒1) applied as pre-plant incorporation (ppi). among theherbicide treatments, the lowest total weed biomass was observed in plots treated with prime+ eptc ppi at ½ recommended dose followed by one hand weeding and nicosulfuron appliedat label recommended dose or 33% reduced dose integrated with seed priming, while the leastperformance was observed in plots treated with eptc alone. weed biomass reduction by seedpriming alone was 32% (average of two years) compared with the control one. the highestgrain and biological yield were observed in weed free plots and hand hoeing three times,followed by prime + eptc, one hand-hoeing and nicosulfuron at recommended rate and at33% reduced dose integrated with seed priming. the present study demonstrated that seedpriming can improve the weed competitiveness of corn.