Further Investigations on Chemical Weed Control in Eggplant (Solanum melongena) in Trinidad

Abstract

Field trials were conducted during 1978 and 1979 on Freeport sandy clay loam, Pasea clay loam and Cunupia clay soils to provide further data on the performance of pre-plant incorporated treatments of benfluralin (1.1 kg a.i./ha), butralin (4.0 kg a.i./ha), isopropalin (1.5 kg a.i./ha) and trifluralin (1.0 kg a.i./ha) and pre-emergence treatments of chlorthal-dimethyl (10.0 kg a.i./ha) and diphenamid (5.0 kg a.i./ha) for weed control in rainfed ‘Early Long Purple’ eggplant and to determine their influence on the yield, grading quality and chemical composition of eggplant fruit. Although the herbicide treatments generally gave better performance on Freeport and Pasea loams than on Cunupia clay, the results confirmed the reliability of the herbicide treatments on the three soils where no evidence of crop injury was observed. The herbicides generally provided satisfactory reduction of early weed growth, gave acceptable yields of good quality fruits and did not affect the protein, total carbohydrate or moisture contents of fruits. No residual injury to beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) and watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) from soil residues was observed.