Instant Insights: Improving Crop Weed Management

This specially curated collection features five reviews of current and key research on improving crop weed management. The first chapter highlights the need for alternative weed control strategies that will preserve herbicide efficacy, as well as agricultural and environmental sustainability. The chapter discusses the role of integrated weed management (IWM) in achieving this through the implementation of practices that can improve plant health, such as crop rotations and no-till farming. The second chapter considers the use of IWM in barley cultivation. After an initial outline of more traditional control methods, primarily the use of herbicides, the chapter provides an example of the successful implementation of IWM in barley in the form of two case studies. The third chapter reviews the impact of weeds on maize grown under temperate conditions in the United States and Europe. It provides a summary of current weed management systems and discusses the issue of herbicide resistance in weed varieties. The fourth chapter reviews the use of IWM in rice cultivation for improved crop productivity and performance and offers detailed discussions on the variety of techniques that can be incorporated into an IWM strategy to achieve this. The final chapter presents a number of weed management options and considerations for sorghum, and discusses the critical period for weed control to occur.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 - Integrated weed management in wheat cultivation: K. Neil Harker and John O’Donovan, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada; and Breanne Tidemann, University of Alberta, Canada; 1 Introduction – current weed control practices in wheat cultivation 2 Weed ecology and vulnerability 3 Integrated weed management (IWM) 4 IWM components 5 Combining optimal IWM components 6 Summary 7 Future trends 8 Where to look for further information 9 References Chapter 2 - Integrated weed management in barley cultivation: Michael Widderick, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Australia; 1 Introduction 2 Integrated Weed Management 3 Weed control tactics 4 IWM in practice 5 Examples of IWM in barley 6 Conclusion 7 Where to look for further information 8 References Chapter 3 - Weed management of maize grown under temperate conditions: the case of Europe and the United States: Vasileios P. Vasileiadis and Maurizio Sattin, National Research Council (CNR), Institute of Agro-Environmental and Forest Biology, Italy; and Per Kudsk, Aarhus University, Denmark; 1 Introduction 2 Maize cropping systems and weed flora in the United States and Europe 3 Weed management in maize cropping systems in the United States and Europe 4 Decision-support tools and bottlenecks hindering IWM implementation 5 Case study: IWM tools as evaluated in three European maize production regions 6 Summary and future trends 7 Where to look for further information 8 References Chapter 4 - Integrated weed management techniques for rice: Simerjeet Kaur and Gulshan Mahajan, Punjab Agricultural University, India; and Bhagirath S. Chauhan, The University of Queensland, Australia; 1 Introduction 2 Weeds in rice crops: the problem 3 The need for IWM in rice production 4 IWM: an overview 5 IWM techniques: preparation and control of the growing environment 6 IWM techniques: establishing the rice crop 7 IWM techniques: managing the rice crop 8 The integration of weed management techniques 9 Summary 10 Where to look for further information 11 References Chapter 5 - Weed management in sorghum cultivation: M. Bagavathiannan, Texas A&M University, USA; W. Everman, North Carolina State University, USA; P. Govindasamy, Texas A&M University, USA; A. Dille and M. Jugulam, Kansas State University, USA; and J. Norsworthy, University of Arkansas, USA; 1 Introduction 2 Critical period for weed control in sorghum 3 Chemical options for weed control in sorghum 4 Herbicide-resistant sorghum technology 5 Non-chemical options for weed control in sorghum 6 Weed shifts with production practices 7 Conclusion 8 Where to look for further information 9 References