Published Paper Details:

Among all the rice production systems in India the major constraint is the weed competition. With their added costs of weed control, they account for yield losses equating to about more than half of total rice imports. In case of upland rice, the prevailing weed species are Cogon grass, Nut grass, Devil weed, Desert poinsettia and Striga the parasitic weed species. while the perennial weeds species include Nut grass, Red rice being annuals, Goose weed, Rice sedge, Barnyard millet, Grass like fimbry and African wild rice may cause serious losses in rice. Conventional practices followed in Indian weed management practices in rice based cropping systems are trash burning, hand hoeing, tilling of soil, weeding, applying herbicides, flooding with water, fallowing and crop rotation practices either used in particular or in combinations to control weeds. Indian farmers face a lot of problems due to shortage of labour, lack of awareness about weed management practices and lack of sufficient inputs and funds. Integrated and ecologically balanced approaches are suggested to minimise the cost of socio- economic and environmental factors to get benefits. Emphasis should be on local practices that are affordable and are easily adaptable by the farmers. One needs to focus on the biology of weeds, their ecology and analyse the results of various weed management approaches with respect to environmental influence on weeds. To bring in the issue of the diversity of rice-based cropping systems in India, there is a need to set priorities, information delivered considering local conditions. To achieve this there is a need for researchers and farmer participatory approaches like conservation tillage, rotation of crops, smothering crops and zero tillage.