Presents innovative approaches to weeds and weed management. Expanding the Context of Weed Management is your key to the latest economically and environmentally friendly methods of managing weeds. You will explore the biological, cultural, mechanical, and preventive tools and techniques that are necessary to successfully manage weeds. Expanding the Context of Weed Management teaches you how to optimize your crop production and profit by integrating preventive techniques, scientific knowledge, and management skills into your current farming routine. This practical volume contains a series of review articles and original research that present innovative approaches to weeds and weed management. In its pages you will discover valuable and practical information about: how weeds can be considered a part of the cropping system instead of an isolated pest to beeliminated why weeds behave as they do short and long term approaches to changing weed management standard breeding methods for weed competitive crops how to improve soil quality to manage weeds how to integrate pest management for weeds how to avoid propagule production how to reduce weed emergence in crops how to minimize weed competition with the cropThe costliness of weeds and weed control is more than $15 billion a year in the United States.Expanding the Context of Weed Management will help you cut this cost with the latest methods of effective weed control. Intended for agronomists, weed scientists, crop advisors, environmentalists, students, and crop ecologists,this book provides a successful and environmentally sound perspective on weeds and their control.

Non-Chemical Weed Control is the first book to present an overview of plant crop protection against non-food plants using non-chemical means. Plants growing wild—particularly unwanted plants found in cultivated ground to the exclusion of the desired crop—have been treated with herbicides and chemical treatments in the past. As concern over environmental, food and consumer safety increases, research has turned to alternatives, including the use of cover crops, thermal treatments and biotechnology to reduce and eliminate unwanted plants. This book provides insight into existing and emerging alternative crop protection methods and includes lessons learned from past methodologies. As crop production resources decline while consumer concerns over safety increase, the effective control of weeds is imperative to insure the maximum possible levels of soil, sunlight and nutrients reach the crop plants. - Allows reader to identify the most appropriate solution based on their individual use or case - Provides researchers, students and growers with current concepts regarding the use of modern, environment-friendly weed control techniques - Presents methods of weed management—an important part of integrated weed management in the future - Exploits the knowledge gained from past sustainable weed management efforts

Fundamentals of Weed Science provides an introduction to the basic principles of weed science for undergraduate courses. It discusses several aspects of weed biology and control, and traces the history of herbicide development. The book begins with an introduction to weeds, covering their definition, characteristics, harmful aspects, and the cost of weed control. This is followed chapters on weed classification, the uses of weeds, weed biology, weed ecology, allelopathy, the significance of plant competition, weed management and control methods, and biological weed control. Later chapters deal with herbicidesthe most important weed control tools and the ones with the greatest potential for untoward effects. Students of weed science must understand herbicides and the factors governing their use as well as the potential for misuse. These chapters discuss chemical weed control, the properties and uses of herbicides, factors affecting herbicide performance, herbicide application, herbicide formulation, ecological impact of herbicides, pesticide registration and legislation, weed management systems, and the future of weed science.

Weeds hold an enigmatic and sometimes-controversial place in agriculture, where they are generally reviled, grudgingly tolerated, and occasionally admired. In most cases, growers make considerable effort to reduce the negative economic impact of weeds because they compete with crops for resources and hinder field operations, thereby affecting crop productivity and quality, and ultimately the sustainability of agriculture. Weed control in production agriculture is commonly achieved through the integration of chemical, biological, and mechanical management methods. Chemicals (herbicides) usually inhibit the growth and establishment of weed plants by interfering with various physiological and biochemical pathways. Biological methods include crop competition, smother crops, rotation crops, and allelopathy, as well as specific insect predators and plant pathogens. Mechanical methods encompass an array of tools from short handled hoes to sophisticated video-guided robotic machines. Integrating these technologies, in order to relieve the negative impacts of weeds on crop production in a way that allows growers to optimize profits and preserve human health and the environment, is the science of weed management.

Degradation of soils continues at a pace that will eventually create a local, regional, or even global crisis when diminished soil resources collide with increasing climate variation. It's not too late to restore our soils to a more productive state by rediscovering the value of soil management, building on our well-established and ever-expanding scientific understanding of soils. Soil management concepts have been in place since the cultivation of crops, but we need to rediscover the principles that are linked together in effective soil management. This book is unique because of its treatment of soil management based on principles—the physical, chemical, and biological processes and how together they form the foundation for soil management processes that range from tillage to nutrient management. Whether new to soil science or needing a concise reference, readers will benefit from this book's ability to integrate the science of soils with management issues and long-term conservation efforts.

The updated edition of the classic, fundamental book on weed science Weed Science provides a detailed examination of the principles of integrated weed management with important details on how chemical herbicides work and should be used. This revised Fourth Edition addresses recent developments affecting weed science. These include the increased use of conservation-tillage systems, environmental concerns about the runoff of agrochemicals, soil conservation, crop biotechnology, resistance of weeds and crops to herbicides, weed control in nonagricultural settings and concerns regarding invasive plants, wetland restoration, and the need for a vastly improved understanding of weed ecology. Current management practices are covered along with guidance for selecting herbicides and using them effectively. To serve as a more efficient reference, herbicides are cross-listed by chemical and brand name and grouped by mechanism of action and physiological effect rather than chemical structure. In addition, an introduction to organic chemistry has been added to familiarize readers with organic herbicides. Also included are guidelines on weed-control practices for specific crops or situations, such as small grains, row crops, horticultural crops, lawns and turf, range land, brush, and aquatic plant life. Generously supplemented with 300 drawings, photographs, and tables, Weed Science is an essential book for students taking an introductory course in weed science, as well as a reference for agricultural advisors, county agents, extension specialists, and professionals throughout the agrochemical industry.

The increase in organic farming and concerns about potential negative effects on human health and the environment is creating a demand for pesticide-free food and alternative weed management techniques. This book provides a comprehensive examination of non-chemical weed management.