• The losses due to weeds are of different types: 1. Decrease in yield due to weeds 2. Low quality due to weeds 3. Increase in the production cost due to weeds 4. Low carrying capacity of water course 5. The tools suffer from wear and tear. • Weeds compete with crops for water, nutrients and sunlight. Due to this, the crop yield might decrease by 16% to 60%. • The crops harvested from the farm having weeds, contain seeds and remnant of weeds, so market price is low and the quality is also low. E.g. if green leaves of weeds are mixed with vegetables like coriander, spinach, they get less price. • 30% expenses of the production cost of crops, is done on cultural practices. • When the farm does not have crops, the insects feed on the weeds and when the crops grow , they shift to the crops and damage them. • Due to the well grown weeds in the water course, its carrying capacity decreases and the speed of the flowing water decreases. • Some preventive methods for weed control: • Clean seeds should be used. If seeds contain large amount of weed seeds, it helps the weeds to spread. • Use good quality compost and FYM, so the germination power of the weeds diminishes. • The weeds on the farm boundaries, fallow land and water course should be uprooted and destroyed. - The weeds in the crops can be controlled in the following ways. • Mechanical method - In this mainly hand weeding and hoeing are used. • Chemical method - Using herbicide. • Biological method - Using various organisms, bacteria, fungus, pests etc. • Integrated method - Using various methods of controlling the weeds at the same time. - Controlling weeds in the following crops: • Jowar-Pearl Millet (Bajara) - Atrazine herbicide 200 gms/acre should be mixed with 400 liters of water and after 6 weeks, hand weeding should be done once. • Maize- Atrazine 400 gms/acre should be mixed with 400 liters of water and should be sprayed before the seeds germinate. Hand weeding should be done after 6 weeks. • Cotton- Pendimethalin 300 gms/acre should be mixed with 400 liters of water and sprayed. Hand weeding should be done after 6 weeks. • Sugarcane - Atrazine 400 gms/acre should be mixed with 400 liters of water and should be sprayed before the seeds germinate. Hand weeding should be done after 8 weeks. • Soyabean - Pendimethalin 300 gms/acre should be mixed with 400 liters of water and sprayed. Hand weeding should be done after 8 weeks. - Precautions to be taken while spraying herbicide: • Herbicide should be sprayed only when strong winds are not blowing. • When the weather is cloudy, spraying should not be done. • After the spraying, no cultural practices should be taken up for 3 to 4 weeks. • While spraying herbicide, knapsack should be used. • While buying herbicides, check the date on it.