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Weed Manipulation

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Agro-ecological Approaches to Pest Management for Sustainable Agriculture

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Abstract

Weeds are responsible for reduction in crop yields by exerting a direct biotic stress on crops by competing for sunlight, moisture, and some nutrients. Price et al. (Ann Rev Ecol 11:41–60, 1980) suggested that weeds have positive and/or negative effects on insect pests and also on their natural enemies, thereby affecting crop plants indirectly. The ecology of insect herbivores and associated natural enemies is affected by the manipulation of a specific weed species, through a particular weed control practice, or a cropping system (Norris RR, Interactions between weeds and other pests in the agroecosystem. In: Hatfield JL, Thomason IJ (eds) Biometeorology in integrated pest management. Academic, New York, pp 343–406, 1982; Andow D, Effect of agricultural diversity on insect populations. In: Lockeretz W (ed) Environmentally sound agriculture. Praeger, New York, pp 91–115, 1983). In addition, the weeds also have some positive effects such as providing habitat for beneficial organisms, recycling nutrients, or providing a means of induced resistance to pests, pathogens, and other weeds. A reasonable degree of weed management rather than total control is helpful in better exploitation of likely benefits. The dynamics of insect populations and crop health are affected by the multiple interactions among crops, weeds, herbivores, and natural enemies, and in particular, weed ecology and management.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

    P. Parvatha Reddy (Former Director)

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  1. P. Parvatha Reddy
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Reddy, P.P. (2017). Weed Manipulation. In: Agro-ecological Approaches to Pest Management for Sustainable Agriculture. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4325-3_14

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