Beetle - a solution to kill weeds

Under the auspices of the British Biotechnology and Research Council (BBSRC) in collaboration with the French National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA), scientific experts have discovered that beetles Can kill weeds in the soil.

This finding contributes to the protection of agricultural soil ecosystems, which supports herbicides in controlling weed. This is considered to be a particularly important finding, helping to improve food safety issues.

Dr David Bohan, who led the study from Rothamsted Research in the UK, said beetles play an important role in weed control. It is really beneficial for the beetles to eat weed seeds on the fields naturally because then, weed numbers will decrease and crop yields will also increase significantly.

This study was published in the recent issue of the Journal of Ecological Applications. Use data surveyed from 257 fields were managed in a common way across the UK to determine the impact of these beetles on the number of weed seeds buried in the soil. This survey was conducted on sugar beet fields, corn fields and cabbage fields in early spring and winter.

After collecting and synthesizing data, the researchers found that weed levels were significantly reduced compared to other wild plants. This is very important because at present, many farms in the UK are experiencing very serious weed related problems.

Some of these weeds become increasingly ineffective with herbicides and this directly affects crop yields as they scramble for nutrients with plants, leading to low yields. . The policy restriction on herbicide use may make weeds more proliferating and growing in the fields. Therefore, the selection of alternative alternative herbicides may yield significant results.