IMPACT OF SOME HERBICIDES, DIFFERENT MULCHING AND THEIR INTEGRATING ON MAIZE PRODUCTIVITY AND CONTROLLING ASSOCIATED WEEDS.

A field experiment was carried out during two successive summer seasons 2018 and, repeated, on 2019 at Sids Agricultural Research Station Farm, A.R.C., Bani Swif Governorate, Egypt; to study the effect of different weed control treatments on yield, yield components, quality and associated weeds of maize. Each field trail included the following treatments: a) Mulching with black and green polyethylene sheets, b) Mulching with rice or wheat, straw c) Herbicides (Atazan 75% WG at 50 g fed. and Steler star 21% SL at 300 cm fed.) both at full rate (alone) and at reduced rate with their integration by different mulching or with adding mineral oil, beside, Maister power 4.53% OD, at full rate alone (500 cm fed.), with hand hoeing twice at 20 and 40 days after sowing and weedy check. Each experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Blocks Design with four replicates. The results showed that both Atazan 75%WG and Steler star 21%SL at reduced rate 50% of full rate (25 g and 150 cm fed., respectively) combined with mulching rice or wheat straw (both of them at 10 ton fed.), also, the same herbicides at reduced rate 25% of full rate (37.5 g fed. and 225 cm fed., respectively) with adding mineral oil at 1% gave superiority a significant differences whereas, weed control efficiency of Atazan combinations reached to (87.8, 86.8 and 84.3%), while Steler star combinations were (88.6, 87.6 and 84.9%), compared to full rate of each Atazan and Steler star alone (69.0 and 73.8%, respectively) in the first season. In the second season the same trend was achieved as the previous treatments. Concerning grain yield, its components and quality characters of maize; the results revealed that combinations of Atazan 75%WG and Steler star 21%SL at reduced rate 50% of full rates (25 g fed. and 150 cm fed., respectively) with rice or wheat straw (both at 10 ton fed.) gave the highest values over both Atazan 75%WG and Steler star 21%SL at reduced rate 25% (37.5 g fed. and 225 cm fed., respectively) with mineral oil. But all these combinations gave significant increase compared to both Atazan 75%WG or Steler star21% SL at full rate alone, in the first and second seasons. Therefore, it could be concluded from this study; using integrated mulching or mineral oil with reduced doses of herbicides will achieve more efficiency weed control than herbicides at full rate alone without loss in maize yield and its components.