Integrated weed management in winter cereals in southern Europe

Abstract

Winter cereals are important crops in Southern Europe. Nowadays, the main objective of cereal growers is to reduce production cost and maximize seed yield. Weeds are the main factors associated with increased production costs and reduced yields. Weed control is carried out by cultural methods, but also by applying herbicides. The most common methods used to manage the weeds in cereals are crop rotation, planting a dense crop, mulching and intercropping with legumes. Moreover, wheat cultivars differ in their competitive ability against weeds. The cultural methods cannot alone control the weeds, but rather reduce the weed population in the crops. In many cases, the chemical method is the most effective weed control method. It is also the method that is widely adopted by farmers and an important tool of integrated weed management strategies. In the case of organic agriculture, the role of several cultural practices such as crop rotation, competitive crops and cultivars, change of sowing time and density, false seed bed technique, use of clean certified seed and intercropping is crucial for the overall weed management. © 2016 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.