Vol. 11, Special Issue 6 (2022)

Author(s):
Saloni Patil and SP Bainade

Abstract:
The agriculture sector is embracing energy efficient conservation systems and technological innovations to meet the ever increasing demand for food, fibre, and fuel in tune with the rapidly increasing human population. The genetic modification of plants is one of the technological innovations that is adopted rapidly across the world. In cotton, many major producing countries have adopted herbicide-tolerant genetically modified crops. Over-reliance on herbicides for weed management in both genetically modified and conventional systems has led to the rapid evolution of herbicide-resistant weeds. Losses caused by weeds in cotton ranges from 50 to 85 per cent depending upon the nature and intensity of weeds (Prabhu, 2012). Cotton is highly vulnerable to weed competition especially in the initial stage of growth. As the cotton is slow growing crop while the growth of many weeds is very fast therefore, they produce competition and also suppress the growth of cotton. Cotton being a long duration crop, the critical period of weed competition prevails up to 60 to 90 DAS and during this period the crop needs weed free condition for better results. common practice with the farmers to take up manual weeding and frequent inter cultivation (hoeing) in cotton. But scarcity of labour and high soil moisture conditions due to frequent irrigation or heavy rains during kharif make the farmers unable to take up timely cultural practices including hand weeding, besides such operations are time consuming, expensive and tedious. Successful cotton production depends on an integrated management strategy that recognizes and adapts to the unique characteristics of the crop. Hence a brief review is presented on different weed management practices and their effect on growth and yield of cotton. Integrated weed management (IWM) can be defined as a holistic approach to weed management that integrates different methods of weed control to provide the crop with an advantage over weeds. It is practiced globally at varying levels of adoption from farm to farm. IWM has the potential to restrict weed populations to manageable levels, reduce the environmental impact of individual weed management practices, increase cropping system sustainability, and reduce selection pressure for weed resistance to herbicides. There is some debate as to whether simple herbicidal weed control programs have now shifted to more diverse IWM cropping systems. Given the rapid evolution and spread of herbicide resistant weeds and their negative consequences, one might predict that IWM research would currently be a prominent activity among weed scientists.