Autonomous robotic weed control systems hold promise toward the automation of one of agriculture’s few remaining unmechanized and drudging tasks, hand weed control. Robotic technology may also provide a means of reducing agriculture’s current dependency on herbicides, improving its sustainability and reducing its environmental impact. This review describes the current status of the four core te...

Despite weeds are a serious threat to promotion of organic farming, relatively less attention is given to research on weed management. This article explores a scope of integration of conservation agriculture for weed control and soil protection under organic farming. Limitation in the use of agro-chemicals under OF promotes intensive tillage for weed control. Mostly, tillage leads to depletion ...

One of the most important stress factors in maize (Zea mays L.) fields is weed competition, which reduces the crop yield. Weeds chiefly interfere with maize and establish considerable competition for light, water and nutrients. To avoid these harmful effects, there are different agronomic measures and factors among which, the most relevant are the interactions between crop and weed, weed manage...

R field experiments with one of the synthetic plant hormones of growth regulators, conducted by the USGA Green Section in collaboration with the Bureau of Plant Industry of the Dept. of Agriculture, have shown striking promise for the effectiveness of this group of chemicals in the control of clover and some of our more serious turf weeds. The application of aqueous sprays containing a spreader...

Non-chemical weed control methods need to be directed towards a site-specific weeding approach, in order to be able to compete the conventional herbicide equivalents. A system for online weed control was developed. It automatically adjusts the tine angle of a harrow and creates different levels of intensity: from gentle to aggressive. Two experimental plots in a maize field were harrowed with t...

An experimental machine vision-based patch-sprayer was developed. This sprayer was primarily designed to do real-time weed density estimation and variable herbicide application rate control. However, the sprayer also had the capability to do high-resolution weed mapping if proper mapping techniques being integrated. Two weed mapping methods were developed. One is GPS signal-based off-line weed ...

Nearly all weed control methods influence both the abiotic and biotic components of the ecosystem. These include the following: mechanical control techniques; cultural practices such as grazing, burning, flooding or revegetation, the introduction of biological weed control agents; and the use of chemicals. This paper reviews many of the risks of weed control and, in some cases, suggests prevent...