Weed Biology and Management

Weeds hold an enigmatic and sometimes-controversial place in agriculture, where they are generally reviled, grudgingly tolerated, and occasionally admired. In most cases, growers make considerable effort to reduce the negative economic impact of weeds because they compete with crops for resources and hinder field operations, thereby affecting crop productivity and quality, and ultimately the sustainability of agriculture. Weed control in production agriculture is commonly achieved through the integration of chemical, biological, and mechanical management methods. Chemicals (herbicides) usually inhibit the growth and establishment of weed plants by interfering with various physiological and biochemical pathways. Biological methods include crop competition, smother crops, rotation crops, and allelopathy, as well as specific insect predators and plant pathogens. Mechanical methods encompass an array of tools from short handled hoes to sophisticated video-guided robotic machines. Integrating these technologies, in order to relieve the negative impacts of weeds on crop production in a way that allows growers to optimize profits and preserve human health and the environment, is the science of weed management.

List of contents

1 Invasive Plants: Ecology and Management.- 2 Invasive Ecology of Weeds in Agricultural Systems.- 3 Crop-Associated Weeds: The Strategy for Adaptation.- 4 Evolutionary Biology of the Foxtail (Setaria) Species-Group.- 5 Aquatic Weeds.- 6 Agroecological Benefits from Weeds.- 7 Rising Carbon Dioxide and Weed Ecology.- 8 Molecular Aspects of Host-Parasite Interactions: Opportunities for Engineering Resistance to Parasitic Weeds.- 9 Altered Herbicide Target Sites: Implications for Herbicide-Resistant Weed Management.- 10 Herbicide Resistance: Moving Beyond Simple explanations.- 11 Fate and Behavior of Herbicides in Tropical Soils.- 12 Diversified Weed Management Systems.- 13 Soil-Improving Practices for Ecological Weed Management.- 14 Weed Management in Low-External-Input and Organic Farming Systems.- 15 Improvement of Allelopathy in Crops for Weed Management - Possibilities, Breeding, Strategies and Tools.- 16 Weed Management under No-Tillage Systems in Tropical Regions.- 17 Soil Solarization: An eco-friendly Approach for Weed Management.- 18 Rationale, Approach and Adoption of Integrated Weed Management.- 19 Adjuvants: Tools for Enhancing Herbicide Performance.- 20 Alternate Weed Management Strategies for Landscape and Turf Settings.- 21 Biological Control of Parasitic Weeds with Plant Pathogens.- 22 Recent Approaches to Orobanche Management; A Review.- 23 A Review on Weed Control in Sugar Beet: From Tolerance Zero to Period Threshold.- 24 Control of Problem Weeds and Net Returns with Herbicide Programs in Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L).- 25 Competitiveness of Rice Cultivars as a Tool for Crop-Based Weed Management.- Author Index.

Summary

Weeds hold an enigmatic and sometimes-controversial place in agriculture, where they are generally reviled, grudgingly tolerated, and occasionally admired. In most cases, growers make considerable effort to reduce the negative economic impact of weeds because they compete with crops for resources and hinder field operations, thereby affecting crop productivity and quality, and ultimately the sustainability of agriculture. Weed control in production agriculture is commonly achieved through the integration of chemical, biological, and mechanical management methods. Chemicals (herbicides) usually inhibit the growth and establishment of weed plants by interfering with various physiological and biochemical pathways. Biological methods include crop competition, smother crops, rotation crops, and allelopathy, as well as specific insect predators and plant pathogens. Mechanical methods encompass an array of tools from short handled hoes to sophisticated video-guided robotic machines. Integrating these technologies, in order to relieve the negative impacts of weeds on crop production in a way that allows growers to optimize profits and preserve human health and the environment, is the science of weed management.

Additional text

From the reviews:

"Weeds have long been a concern of agriculturalists, and they continue to challenge weed scientists and farmers. … In 25 chapters, this book deals with such diverse topics as the evaluation of allelopathy, enhancing allelopathy through crop improvement, the beneficial effects of weeds under selected conditions, unique approaches to the study of host-parasite relationships within parasitic weeds, and the examination of ‘period thresholds’ as opposed to ‘zero tolerance’ of weeds. … Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above; general readers." (R. Frederiksen, CHOICE, Vol. 42 (5), 2005)

Report

From the reviews:

"Weeds have long been a concern of agriculturalists, and they continue to challenge weed scientists and farmers. ... In 25 chapters, this book deals with such diverse topics as the evaluation of allelopathy, enhancing allelopathy through crop improvement, the beneficial effects of weeds under selected conditions, unique approaches to the study of host-parasite relationships within parasitic weeds, and the examination of 'period thresholds' as opposed to 'zero tolerance' of weeds. ... Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above; general readers." (R. Frederiksen, CHOICE, Vol. 42 (5), 2005)

Product details

• Assisted by: Inderji (Editor), Inderjit (Editor), Inderjit (Editor)
• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 07.10.2010
• EAN: 9789048164936
• ISBN: 978-90-481-6493-6
• No. of pages: 553
• Weight: 850 g
• Illustrations: XII, 553 p. 75 illus., 14 illus. in color.
• Subject: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Biology > Botany