| Summary: | Weed management in the drylands is complex because of heterogeneous soil conditions, increasing frequency of extreme events (drought, torrential rainfall, and extreme temperatures), a wide range of environmental
requirements of botanically diverse weed species, and limited farmers’ resources. Weeds can survive under
adverse conditions, as they extract more water and nutrients from the soil, thereby reducing crop yield by 37
to 79% in dryland agriculture. Weeds are the most detrimental factor in decreasing the water availability to
growing crops in dryland, where weeds alone can reduce more than 50% of crop yield competition for
moisture in moisture-limited conditions.
The severity of weed infestation and its management during the transition phase from conventional
agriculture to Conservation Agriculture (CA), is one of the bottlenecks for wider adoption of CA in the Middle
East and North Africa (MENA) region. More aggressive, adaptive, and persistent characteristics of weeds pose
a serious threat to crop production and are difficult to control below the economic threshold level with single
weed management practice. Managing weed seed banks is an important component of integrated weed
management for CA.
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