Integrated Weed Management (IWM) for Sustainable Agriculture – A Review
Abstract
Weeds are defined as any growing plant infield, where it is not wanted and weeds are also used as feed for the animals. Weeds are creating a big problem in agriculture by reducing the growth and development of crops and minimizing the yield of the crops. Weeds are the major problem in agriculture therefore management practices require increasing the yield of the crops. Sustainable agriculture is defined as a farming system that meets foods for the present population by reducing the use of chemicals. Integrated weed management (IWM) is defined as a process that synchronizes the use of major and minor information on the environment, ecology, and biology of weeds, and ecologically controlling the weeds from fields. Yield losses in soybean may range from 25 to 70 %, 40-80 % in onion, 40-70% in maize, 40-50% in rice, and 25-50% in wheat depending upon the intensity and infestation of weeds. Rice residues as mulching at 6 and 7 t/ha and adding post-emergence herbicides like clodinafop 60 g/ha, sulfosulfuron 25 g/ha, and mesosulfuron+iodosulfuron 14.4 g/ha were found more effective to control weeds like P. minor and also board leaf weeds from the wheat field. Zero tillage is generally done in wheat crops and also in maize crops to minimize of cost of cultivation. The incorporation of daincha and azolla in afield generally increases the yield of the crops during the early stages.
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Introduction
Integrated weed management (IWM) is a management system that’sapproach on required awareness of implementation on a crop for its good health. They view it as a series of interactions among several weed control components (Swanton et al. 2008). Integrated weed management (IWM) is the process that synchronizes the use of major and minor information of environment, ecology, and biology of weeds, and ecologically controlling the weeds from fields by using all available technology. Integrated weed management (IWM) research are focusing on the process of decision-making, ecology and biology of weeds, components of IWM which are generally practiced on cropping pattern, resistance level of herbicide, ecology problem related to transgenic plants, and weeds welfare (Rao and Nagamani, 2010). Integrated weed management (IWM) is defined as a collecting environmental information, ecology and biology of weeds using all available technology for controlling the weeds (Sanyal, 2008). IWM focuses on reduction of weeds in a single or multiple season and also use the broadcast-type equipment for controlling of weeds. In traditional methods, puddling is done for the killing of weeds and aid water retention and also for the transplanting of rice (Rao et al., 2007). From a biological approach, successfully integrating weed management requires an understanding of three key components: the effect of treatments on weed populations, weed growth and development stages and the critical period for applying control tools (Swanton et al., 2008). Control tools (e.g. mowing, spraying, cultivating) have differing effects on weeds, and without a complete understanding of the life history of the target weed(s) and crop, the development of effective and efficient robotic systems will be extremely challenging, if not impossible. In all crops, there exists a period in which weed control is critical to avoid incurring yield loss (Knezevic et al., 2002). Combining recognition and application technology into a single platform for fast and efficient weed control across spatiotemporal scales will require precise information on weed biology and ecology and continued testing of technology for a wide range of field conditions (Slaughter et al., 2008; Singh et al., 2011). Considering the diversity of weed problem and agro-ecosystems, no single method of weed control could reach the desired level of efficiency under all situations (Singh 2010). Thus, IWM has been suggested as a sustainable and long-term management technique.
FIGURE 1: Components of Integrated weed Management (IWM)
Source: Nicholas et., al. 2019
Conclusion
Weeds are creating a big problem for growing crops, they reduce production and caused huge economic yield loss of crops. So therefore management of weeds is important for increasing the production of crops and their value. Integrated weed man-agement (IWM) is the best way to control weeds and it'salso eco-friendly. Cultural, agronomical, mechanical, chemical, and biological is the methods that are used for controlling weeds. Mainly herbicides are used for controlling weeds but herbicides are very harmful to both humans and plants. The biological method is the best way to control weeds from the field and it'salso nonharmful for humans, animals, and plants. Tillage and puddling are used for the removal of weeds seeds from the infested field. Mulching is knowns as leaving of crop residues or plastic for controlling weeds infestation in the crops fields. In Nepal and India mostly herbicides are used for controlling weeds because other practices are more costly as compared to herbicides. Biological weeds control methods are generally used inorganic farming to find organic food from the crops field. Using herbicides to control weeds creates a big problem for a growing population. Herbicides are not good for human and plant health soother practices like cultural, mechanical, agronomical, and biological methods are used for the control of weeds are best for human and plant health. cultural, mechanical, agronomical, and biological methods for controlling weeds are also ecofriendly and give the best performance to control the weeds from the fields.
