Weed management in Conservation Agriculture-based production of annual crops

This chapter reviews the benefits and use of cover crops in no-till (NT) cultivation systems such as Conservation Agriculture (CA) in order to control undesirable plants (‘weeds’) in different annual crop production systems, whilst minimizing the use of herbicides. It begins by situating use of cover crops in the broader context of improving soil health. The chapter then reviews current research on the mechanisms of action deployed by cover crops in weed suppression. Finally, it discusses the range of CA-based weed management practices for annual crops using cover crops, including characteristics of particular cover crops and cover crop mixes as well as a range of examples of the ways they can be combined with cash crops.