Full text

Turn on search term navigation

© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Weeds are among the major constraints to any crop production system, reducing productivity and profitability. Herbicides are among the most effective methods to control weeds, and reliance on herbicides for weed control has increased significantly with the advent of herbicide-resistant crops. Unfortunately, over-reliance on herbicides leads to environmental-health issues and herbicide-resistant weeds, causing human health and ecological concerns. Crop diversification can help manage weeds sustainably in major crop production systems. It acts as an organizing principle under which technological innovations and ecological insights can be combined to manage weeds sustainably. Diversified cropping can be defined as the conscious inclusion of functional biodiversity at temporal and/or spatial levels to improve the productivity and stability of ecosystem services. Crop diversification helps to reduce weed density by negatively impacting weed seed germination and weed growth. Additionally, diversified farming systems are more resilient to climate change than monoculture systems and provide better crop yield. However, there are a few challenges to adopting a diversified cropping system, ranging from technology innovations, government policies, farm-level decisions, climate change, and market conditions. In this review, we discuss how crop diversification supports sustainable weed management, the challenges associated with it, and the future of weed management with respect to the diversification concept.

Details

Title
Crop Diversification for Improved Weed Management: A Review
Author
Sharma, Gourav 1 ; Shrestha, Swati 2 ; Kunwar, Sudip 2 ; Te-Ming, Tseng 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA; [email protected] 
 Department of Horticultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; [email protected] (S.S.); [email protected] (S.K.) 
 Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS 39762, USA 
First page
461
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
20770472
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2531355159
Copyright
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.