Weed Control

I INTRODUCTION

Jimsonweed
Jimsonweed, (Datura stramonium), contains toxic compounds in its leaves, stems, and roots. The weed favors fields and pastures in which
livestock graze and the toxins it contains are strong enough to sicken or kill some livestock.
Hal Horwitz/CORBIS-BETTMANN

Weed Control, killing or limiting the growth of plants in places where they are not wanted, usually for economic, health, or
aesthetic reasons. Weeds play an important role in nature by rebuilding soil that has been disturbed by bulldozers, fire, or flood,
but in many areas weeds compete with more desirable plants for available light, water, and nutrients. Weeds are exceptionally
tough plants and are able to reproduce aggressively. They often produce great quantities of seed, for example, or disperse seed
over a large area. Or they may quickly reproduce by sending out far-reaching stems above or below ground, from which new
weeds can sprout. As a result, they may quickly outnumber other, desired plants in an area.

Uncontrolled weed growth poses a variety of problems. On farms, weeds significantly reduce the harvest, or yield, of a crop by
depriving the plants of light, moisture, and nutrients. Three foxtail weeds in a 30-cm (1-ft) row of corn, for example, can reduce
the corn crop yield by 10 percent; 12 foxtail weeds can reduce it by 17 percent. Weed seeds mixed with grain reduce the quality
of grain, and the presence of weeds in hay decreases its value. Weeds also reduce yields by harboring insects and diseases that
attack crops. Toxic weeds in pastures where animals graze can, if consumed, poison animals or—in the case of cows and other
milk-producing animals—taint their milk.

Ecosystems, communities of interdependent organisms along with their soil, water, and light, may require weed control to
prevent aggressive plants from choking out native plants that wildlife rely on for food and shelter. Purple loosestrife, for example,
is a once-popular garden plant with abundant seeds that disperse easily. This fast-growing weed clogs rivers, creeks, and
wetlands, where it disrupts aquatic ecosystems, and its sale has been banned in 29 states.
II METHODS OF WEED CONTROL

A variety of techniques are used to control weeds. Weeds are resilient and sometimes require more than one method for effective
control.

A Mechanical Methods

Mechanical Weed control

A cultivator is a machine used for mechanical weed control. It is dragged behind a tractor and dislodges weeds by breaking up the surface of the
soil with teeth or hoes.
Tom Bean/The Stock Market

For centuries, farmers have pulled weeds by hand or used hoes to cut them from the ground. Many farmers also control weeds by
mulching—that is, covering the soil around crops with straw or other materials that smother weeds. But hand-control methods
require a great deal of time and labor, so are not well suited for controlling weeds in large areas. Mowing machines are more
efficient for large-scale weed control. These machines remove the weeds’ leaves, the photosynthetic organs that provide the
plants with a steady supply of carbohydrates. A mowed weed (like virtually any mowed plant) generates new leaves but must do
so by drawing on the limited carbohydrate reserves in the roots. Repeated mowing gradually depletes the carbohydrate supply, so
that the weed is unable to produce new leaves and eventually dies.

Farmers also use a variety of tractor-drawn equipment such as disks or harrows to uproot weeds that emerge between crop rows.
To be most effective, mechanical weed removal must be carried out when the plants are at specific growing stages—such as
when the weeds are very small and have few energy reserves, or when they are using considerable energy to flower.

B Cultural Methods

One weed control technique involves managing plants so that weeds have a difficult time growing. A farmer or gardener may
grow a smother crop—a crop of closely spaced plants such as sunflower, rye or alfalfa, for example—before planting the desired
crop. The smother crop prevents weeds from receiving the light, water, and nutrients they require, minimizing their competition
with the desired crop. Another cultural control is to rotate crops by growing a different crop in the same area every year for three
or four years. In this method, a weed that thrives with one crop will not survive with the next one.

C Biological Methods
Biological Weed Control
Biological control of weeds is carried out by a bioherbicide, a virus, bacterium, fungus, insect, or other organism that can weaken or kill weeds.
Shown here are bacteria being cultured in a laboratory petri dish prior to release into a target weed area. Extensive testing must be carried out to
ensure that the bioherbicide does not damage desirable plants. The flowerhead weevil insect, for example, was imported from Europe in the
1970s before adequate testing was done. Designed to kill the milk thistle weed, recently it has attacked native thistle species in the western United
States.
John Durham/Photo Researchers, Inc.

Biological controls take advantage of organisms that are natural enemies of some weeds because they infect or eat them. Such
controls include insects, bacteria, fungi, fish (for aquatic weeds), and grazing animals. A fungus found naturally in the rice fields
of Arkansas, for example, is used to control the northern jointvetch weed that invades the fields. Biological controls are
sometimes imported from one region to another; to be successful, they must be able to survive in their new ecosystem. The cactus
moth, for instance, native to a hot, dry region of Argentina, was successfully imported to Australian ecosystems with a similar
climate. There, while in the caterpillar stage, it eats and helps control the prickly pear cactus weed, which if uncontrolled replaces
nutritious grasses and shrubs on grazing lands, thereby eliminating food for sheep and cows.

Biological control requires considerable research, knowledge, and skilled management. The biological agent must be tested
extensively to ensure that it will feed exclusively on the targeted weed, while leaving valuable or harmless plants untouched.
Growers using biological controls must be knowledgeable about the life cycles of both the control agent and the weed, release the
agent at the proper life-cycle stage, and monitor the progress of the control. In some cases it can take years or even decades to
determine if a biological control program is effective. For these reasons, biological control is not used as widely as other methods
of weed control.

D Chemical Controls
Weed Control or Pollution?
Many farmers control weeds by spraying herbicides. Herbicides account for about 60 percent of all pesticides used in the United States, and are
often very effective since many are designed to kill weeds but not injure crop plants. However, herbicides cause numerous health problems
among farm workers. Long-lasting herbicides also can remain on crops after they are picked, and some pose health threats to consumers.
Herbicides can also contaminate water supplies. Regulations for herbicide use varies in different countries, with the United States having some of
the most stringent regulations for certain herbicides.
Blair Seitz/Photo Researchers, Inc.

Weeds are also controlled using plant-killing chemicals, or herbicides, that disrupt plant growth in a variety of ways, such as
preventing root growth or interfering with photosynthesis. Herbicides became widely available after World War II ended in 1945,
partly as a result of chemical research carried out during the war. The speed and ease of their use made them so popular that for
many farmers and gardeners, herbicides became the sole method for controlling weeds. Today, herbicides are used far more than
other types of pesticides. In 1995 more than 252 million kg (556 million lb) of herbicides were used—four times the amount of
pesticide used to kill insects in the same year.

Some biologists are concerned about the health and environmental effects of herbicides. Herbicides sometimes contain
ingredients that are poisonous to humans and other organisms. Atrazine, for example, the most widely used agricultural
herbicide, promotes the imbalance of estrogen, which has been linked to breast cancer. Overexposure to the chemical 2,4,-D, the
active ingredient in over 40 herbicides, can cause lymphoma, cancer of the lymph nodes, or kidney and liver damage.

Herbicides in the soil can migrate to the ocean through nearby streams or rivers, and some, in minute concentrations, kill
shellfish. An excess of glyphosphate, a widely used ingredient in herbicides, kills susceptible beneficial insects that prey on
insect pests, and it is extremely toxic to fish. Repeated herbicide use over a long period of time also encourages development of
herbicide-resistant weeds.

III GENETIC ENGINEERING

A new area of weed control research focuses on genetic engineering, which could make it easier to control weeds chemically
without damaging desired plants or crops. Plant geneticists have created some crops with a genetic makeup that makes them
resistant to specific herbicides. While this research shows great promise, some biologists are concerned that these genetically
engineered, or transgenic, crops may cross with closely related weeds. Cultivated transgenic squash, for example, grown near
wild squash, may transfer its herbicide resistance gene by pollinating the wild squash. If offspring of the wild squash inherit this
herbicide-resistant trait, they may be nearly impossible to control with conventional herbicides. Biologists are still unable to
predict the effect of such herbicide-resistant weeds on ecosystems.

Contributed By:
Erin Hynes
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