BIOHERBICIDES - A REAL OR VIRTUAL MEASURE FOR EFFICIENT WEED CONTROL?

Bioherbicides are phytopathogenic microorganisms or microbial phytotoxins useful for biological weed control. Therefore, bioherbicides has been recognized as a significant biological control strategy. They offer many advantages-high degree of specificity of target weed; no effect on non-target and beneficial plants or man; absence of residue build-up in the environment; effectiveness for managing herbicide-resistant (HR) weed populations. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that combinations of some bioherbicides and synthetic herbicides can be synergistic. Besides many advantages of bioherbicides, certain factors have been reported to limit the development of bioherbicides into commercial products. These include environmental, biological and technical-commercial limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]