Weed Control in Clean Agriculture: A Review1

ABSTRACT Weed control is consider the major obstacle for the growers in the organic farming. Lower plant productivity in organic farming mainly related to the poor weed control. It is widely known, in most cases, that losses caused by weeds exceeded the losses from any category of agricultural pests. Under water-stress condition, weeds can reduce crop yields more than 50% through moisture competition alone. In the light of the environmental and toxicological problems created by herbicides, it has become necessary to develop the safety methods for controlling weeds. Soil Solarization, Mulching, Biodegradable Mulch, Natural Herbicides, Hot Water, and Agronomic Practices have been successfully adopted in many countries as safe methods for controlling weeds in the organic farming. In addition, there are some promising new and non-traditional measures such as Fresnel Lens, Electrical Weed Control, Lasers, etc which could be employed for controlling the weeds in organic farming. Also the agronomic practices such as choice of competitive varieties, stale seedbeds had a significant impact on weeds. The growers in organic farming should keep these three points in mind: 1) start clean stay clean successful, 2) Prevention is always better than treatment and, 3) One year's seeds will lead to seven year's weed infestation. Successful and sustainable weed management systems are those that employ combinations of techniques rather than relying on one method. The objectives of this paper are to review some safe weed control methods in the clean agricultural