This study was conducted to evaluate the weed suppressive ability of different dead mulch materials for weed control in the production of celosia(Celosia argentea L.) at the Faculty of Agriculture Teaching and Research Farm of the University of Port Harcourt, Choba, Rivers State, Nigeria in a humid forest agro-ecology between April and July, 2012.Theexperiment consisted of six (6) treatments namely: calapo mulch, guinea grass mulch, sawdust mulch, wood shavings mulch, hoe weeding at 3 &7 weeks after planting (WAP)(control) and no weeding(control).The 6treatments were laid out in a randomized complete block design(RCBD) with four replicates. Results showed that no weeding plot was consistent in recording the highest weed growth characteristics in terms of weed density throughout the five (5) periods of sampling, weed fresh and dry weight at final harvests. Manualhoe weeding at 3 and 7 WAP was significantly (p0.05) more efficient in controlling weeds followed by wood shavings mulch, sawdust mulch, calopo mulch and then guinea grass mulch. In terms of celosia growth characteristics, calapo mulch performed best at 8WAP by producing the highest shoot height (93.33cm), stem girth (3.25cm) number of leaves (64.25), leaf area (79.78cm2) and marketable fresh shoot yield (425,111.11 kg/ha) while, no weeding (control) had the lowest of the growth and yield parameters assessed. Relative to the unweeded (control) mulching increased celosia shoot marketable yield by 2,485.14% (calopo mulch), 121.62% (Two –hoe weeding @ 3 & 7WAP), 70.27%, (guinea grass mulch), 50% (wood shaving mulch) and 25.68 % (saw dust mulch).Partial farm budget analysis showed that among the treatments used, calopo mulch application had the highest net return (profit) of ₦85007222/ha and cost- benefit ratio( CBR)of 1:5667.15whichtherefore,implies that it is more profitable to control weeds with calapo mulchin the area of study.
