Assessment of Drone-and Robotic-based Herbicide Application on Soil Enzymatic Activity under Different Plant Densities in Cotton
Gaini Sairam *
Department of Agronomy, Professor Jayashankar Telangana Agricultural University, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, Telangana-500 030, India.
M. Malla Reddy
Department of Agronomy, Professor Jayashankar Telangana Agricultural University, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, Telangana-500 030, India.
K. Sridhar
Department of Agronomy, Professor Jayashankar Telangana Agricultural University, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, Telangana-500 030, India.
D. Vijaya Lakshmi
Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Professor Jayashankar Telangana Agricultural University, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, Telangana-500 030, India.
P.C. Latha
Department of Agricultural Microbiology, ICAR-Indian Institute of Rice Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, Telangana-500 030, India.
B. Padmaja
Department of Agronomy, Professor Jayashankar Telangana Agricultural University, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, Telangana-500 030, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The present study was conducted at Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS), Palem, Nagarkurnool, Professor Jayashankar Telangana Agricultural University, Telangana, India during kharif 2023 and 2024 to evaluate plant density and weed management methods influence on soil enzymes activity. High density planting, recorded significantly higher soil enzyme activities (urease, dehydrogenase, phosphatase and β glucosidase activity) at 30, 60 and 90 DAS except at harvest compared to normal planting. Robotic mechanical intercultivation which was on par with weed free recoded significantly higher soil enzymes activity (urease, dehydrogenase and β glucosidase) compared to herbicides application through drone spaying, robotic spraying and manual spraying at 30 DAS. At 60, 90 DAS and harvest the applied herbicide showed no statistically significant effect on soil enzymes activity, during both the years of experimentation.
Keywords: Drone, robot, high density planting, soil enzymes, β glucosidase, cotton