Weeds reduce crop yields and can lead to total crop failures if not controlled. Weeds continue to be an important constraint in crop production. Despite the best efforts made in research and extension in the field of weed science, the farmers continue to experience heavy losses in crop yield due to weed interference. A conservative estimate of about 10 per cent loss would amount to a loss of about 25 million tonnes of food grains, currently valued at approximately USD 13 billion. Losses of similar fashion may occur in plantation crops, fruits, vegetables, grass lands, forestry and aquatic environment. The total economic losses will be much higher, if indirect effect of weeds on health, loss of biodiversity, nutrient depletion, grain quality etc is taken into consideration.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.