Crop Diversification for Improved Weed Management: A Review

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, which ranges 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.

Agriculture without paraquat is feasible without loss of productivity—lessons learned from phasing out a highly hazardous herbicide

“…This aligns with the promotion of an agroecological approach as an integral part of successful IWM (Tataridas et al 2022). Diversifying cropping systems and weed communities and supporting ecosystem services ensure the functionality and the sustainability of agricultural systems which have the potential to provide economic and ecological benefits in both the short-and long-term (Adeux et al 2019;Chandrasena 2019;Gaba et al 2016;Low 2020;Rosa-Schleich et al 2019;Sharma et al 2021).…”

Genetic Divergence Study in Finger Millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.] Genotypes for Yield and Yield-Related Traits at Mechara, Eastern Ethiopia

“…Genetic distance and cluster analysis were performed by agglomerative hierarchal clustering (AHC) using a Euclidean distance matrix based on the unweighted pair-group methods with arithmetic means (UPGMA) for the construction of dissimilarity measures using XLSTAT software. Principal component analysis was used to extract the most significant traits that account for genetic variation (Sharma, 2001). Where: ACC# = Accession number; S/N = Serial number; B-Gumuz = Benishangul-Gumuz; SNNP = Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region.…”

Canola rotation effects on soil water and subsequent wheat in the Pacific Northwest USA

“…Rotation crops provide several important advantages to improve the diversity, sustainability, and resilience of cropping systems (Lin, 2011; Moonen & Barberi, 2008). Rotation benefits include breaking disease cycles (Kirkegaard et al., 2008), improving soil structure, and fertility (Ball et al., 2005; Lopez‐Ballido et al., 2000) and providing more weed management options (Sharma et al., 2021). Both winter canola (WC) and spring canola (SC) are among the most promising rotation crops (Pan et al., 2016) with planted hectarage in Washington reaching 55,000 ha 2021.…”