Non-chemical weed management strategies in minor crops: A review

In minor crops the low availability or absence of herbicides impose to adopt an integrated use of non-chemical weed control methods. Minor crops include mostly vegetables, fruits, but also seed crops, herbs and plants for medicinal use and spices. Minor crops account for an EU production value of more than € 60 billion per year, representing more than 20% of the value of EU's total agricultural production. Sustainable production of minor crops is vital for both human health and national economies as it contributes to agricultural productivity as well as a diverse and nutritional food supply, and food security. Weed control vary depending on technical and economical factors such as cultivation system (open air or greenhouse), date of sowing or transplanting, market (fresh market, conservation industry, transformation industry, seeds industry) and knowledge. In this context, weed control with non-chemical methods can differ a lot due to the different peculiarities of minor crops. A review on the integrated weed management in minor crops using non-chemical methods could be useful to help the research to provide effective and sustainable solutions, push policies to deliver funding in order to improve from farmers the communication and the adoption of integrated non-chemical weed management strategies.