The Need for New Directions on Conservation Agriculture towards Weed Management: Review

Abstract

Agriculture conservation practices such as minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil covering by crop residues or cover crops, and crop rotations leads to higher farm productivity. Although conservation agriculture has been adopted in India since its inception, it has now been successfully used in Indo Gangetic Plains irrigated rice-wheat cropping systems and has recently been made known in parts of central India. In conservation agricultural system, cover crops play an important role in weed control, but their adoption level is still limited Changes in tillage practices, planting schemes, and other management techniques can change the soil environment and trigger a significant change in weed flora In intense tillage operations early season weed control could be obtained by turning the soil, which disrupts the germination of weed seeds and the growth of seedlings through burial. In addition, soil-administered herbicides that do not need to be manifested can have less persistence and efficacy in the presence of plant residues that can hinder and bind the chemical before it reaches the soil surface. Selective herbicide compounds that are effective on weed species and not on a specific crop, conferring non-selective herbicide tolerance on a crop may be enormously effectual for potent weed control.