Review of non-chemical weed management for green agriculture

This paper reviewed the background and situation for studying and developing non-chemical weed management. Environmental pressure and commissariat safety problems indicate that it is essential to deeply study and develop non-chemical weed management technologies. The paper summarized the pros and cons of the non-chemical weed management technologies in aspects of weed control by agronomic method, mechanical method, thermal treatment method, and biological treatment, discussed the defects of the existing non-chemical weeding methods, and put forward some suggestions: (1) The description on the experiments and operation of the non-chemical weeding technologies is suggested to be standardized in order to compare the performance of different weeding methods. Some important information on name of equipment, consumption capacity, working width, travel speed, and weed control levels should always be included in the experimental descriptions; (2) An integration of combinations or sequences of various weed control techniques is suggested to be used to reduce the risk of a selective pressure leading to the predominance of certain species; and (3) It is also suggested for further improvement of the existing weed control methods and further development of the weed detection technology originally developed for precision chemical application in order to use them in non-chemical weed management.