Sustainable Weed Control Practices

Dear Colleagues,

Weeds pose a major threat to crop production by competing with crops for space, water, nutrients, and sunlight. Since the start of the domestication of crops, weeds have evolved with changing agricultural practices. Weeds contribute more to crop yield loss and production costs compared to the incidence of insect pests and disease-causing pathogens. By exerting a negative impact on both the quality and quantity of agricultural products, weeds are negatively impacting the bottom line of growers. Weed control has, therefore, become integral to all crop production systems and is a costly enterprise due to the use of various chemical and/or non-chemical management options. Worldwide, the evolution of resistance in weeds to different modes of action herbicides has severely reduced our ability to manage weeds sustainably. The evolution of herbicide resistance in weeds has continued to be a major challenge from the early days of herbicide development. Since the introduction of herbicides in the early 1950s and 1960s, there has been a steady increase in the number of incidents of herbicide resistance in different weed species and their corresponding negative impact on crop production. Effective weed control by incorporating various integrated weed management tactics and the latest available technologies for site-specific weed control are thus needed for achieving a sustainable future for agriculture.

This Special Issue focuses on issues related to sustainable weed control practices. Topics of interest include but are not limited to the following: integrated weed management; crop–weed interactions; allelopathy; the physiology and genomics of weeds; herbicide resistance; and the use of advanced technologies such as unmanned aerial vehicles, drones, sensors for weed identification, and site-specific weed management for row crops. Moreover, research related to the responses of weeds to changing climatic conditions is welcome. The requirement for submissions by prospective authors is that their contributions specifically address scientific problems in weed science, with a focus on sustainable practices. Original research papers, review articles, and short communications on the above-listed topics are invited too.

Dr. Vijay Varanasi
Dr. Andrew Price
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• weeds
• crops
• integrated weed management
• climate change
• weed control
• herbicide modes of action
• herbicide resistance
• unmanned aerial vehicle