The Identification and Utilization of Weed Biology Information

Abstract

The divisions and subjects of weed biology were identified. Twenty-eight representatives from the herbicide industry ranked the priority of the identified subjects. They also gave their thoughts and impressions on specific questions dealing with weed biology. The divisions which received a moderate to high priority rating are: Identification and Classification of Weeds, Harmful Aspects of Weeds, Weed Growth and Development, and Weed Control. A review of the papers published inWeed Scienceindicates an increase in the number of papers being published on the subject of weed biology and a decrease in the number of papers dealing with chemical control. The proceedings of the regional weed societies in the U.S.A. had a high percent of the papers devoted to chemical control, with the lowest percentage devoted to weed biology. Comments are made as to why weed biology is important and how research data on weed biology would be used by industry. A comparison of the rating that industry assigned to the various subjects of weed biology to the amount of published literature indicates insufficient work has been done in many areas. It also appears that there is an imbalance in research. More work is being done on certain subjects that industry considers of lesser value than subjects of greater importance.