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Crop protectionWeeds

Farmers need to protect their crops against damage caused by weeds, pests and disease. To do this, they use cultural and chemical control methods. However, there are disadvantages to consider for each of these methods.

Part of BiologySustainability and interdependence

Weeds

Weeds are adapted to be opportunists. Annual weeds can grow on vacant land and compete with crop plants as they have the following characteristics:

  • rapid growth
  • short lifecycle
  • produce large number of seeds
  • long-term viability of seeds

Perennial weeds can also successfully compete with crop plants due to a different set of characteristics:

  • storage organs - therefore the plant has food in all environmental conditions.
  • vegetative reproduction - perennial weeds can reproduce using other methods in addition to seeds (sexual reproduction).
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