Mechanical and Cultural Approaches to Weed Management

Cultural weed management refers to systems in which crop competitiveness with coexisting weed species is maximized, thus providing better weed control with fewer chemical inputs. Before the mid-1940s, and to the present day in underdeveloped regions of the world, growers relied primarily on cultural and mechanical weed control, since alternatives were unavailable. Interest in cultural weed control has been renewed recently due to mandatory reductions in pesticide usage in European countries and growing support for similar reductions in North America (63,72,73,78,89).