Increasing Water and Nutrient-Use Efficiency in Crops by Innovative and Low-Cost Weed Management

Abstract

Water and nutrients are the most important and vital inputs for better plant growth and development. Efficient management of these vital inputs is required to improve the crop productivity, sustainability and input-use efficiency. Water is becoming a scarce resource for use in agriculture sector, and applied nutrients are lost from the soil through different pathways; hence it is very crucial to increase the use efficiency of both water and nutrients in crop production systems. Weeds are the most damaging hidden enemy to crops, causing huge yield losses due to severe competition with crops for water, nutrients, light and space. Water and nutrients, which are meant for the crop, are taken up by weeds. Weeds have the ability to translocate nutrients at a higher rate than crops in a mixed flora with no toxicity symptoms, better root growth, and ability to tolerate abiotic and biotic stresses. Evidences are available that effective management of weeds enhanced the water and nutrient use in crops by minimizing water and nutrient mining through weeds. Various factors such as type of crop, crop establishment methods, climatic conditions, inherent soil fertility status, fertilizer dose, irrigation methods, weed species, weed management practices, etc. interplay in water loss and nutrient mining due to weeds. Interventions of various weed management practices have been found to improve water and nutrient uptake by crops with corresponding reduction in water loss and nutrient drain by the weeds. Irrespective of crops and climatic conditions, integrated weed management i.e., combination of chemical, mechanical and cultural methods has been found to be much better compared to only chemical methods to enhance the input use efficiency in crops.