Microwave and Radio-Frequency Technologies in Agriculture

19 Weed Management

In 2006, the cost of weeds to Australian agricultural industries, due to management costs or loss of production, was estimated to be about $4 billion annually (DAFF 2006). Depletion of the weed seed bank is critically important to overcoming infestations of various weed species (Kremer 1993). Mechanical and chemical controls are the most common methods of weed control in cropping systems (Batlla and Benech-Arnold 2007, Bebawi, et al. 2007). The success of these methods usually depends on destroying the highest number of plants during their seedling stage (Batlla and Benech-Arnold 2007) before they interfere with crop production and subsequently set further seed. These strategies must be employed over several years to deplete ...