What is the Most Effective Method for Weed Control?

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-996-4_8How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Spatially explicit cellular automation model; Crop-weed dynamics; Weed management strategies; Logistic growth; Spatial processes

Abstract

We develop a spatially explicit cellular automaton model to evaluate long-term crop–weed dynamics on a 100-ha grid under four strategies: no control, chemical suppression (reduced weed growth), enhanced crop competitiveness (higher carrying capacity and stronger suppression), and threshold-based mechanical weeding with fatigue, seasonal efficiency, and biennial work–rest cycles. Populations follow logistic growth with interspecific competition, and weeds disperse via a five-point diffusion operator. Over 15 simulated years, unmanaged weeds rapidly percolate and dominate. Chemical control delays but does not prevent large-scale invasion. Enhancing crop competitiveness slows spread further, yet weeds eventually overcome pressure. Threshold-activated mechanical weeding most effectively limits invasion by fragmenting clusters and keeping biomass below high-density states despite operational penalties. The model quantifies system-level responses in total biomass, invaded area, and spatial structure, providing a transparent platform for comparing strategies when field data are limited. Results highlight that recurrent, localized interventions outperform uniform pressure and that spatial processes—connectivity, fragmentation, and diffusion—govern management success. The framework is readily extendable to hybrid strategies, heterogeneous landscapes, and alternative scheduling policies.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Ke Tang
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/02/15
TI  - What is the Most Effective Method for Weed Control?
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 7th Management Science Informatization and Economic Innovation Development Conference (MSIEID 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 81
EP  - 93
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-996-4_8
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-996-4_8
ID  - Tang2026
ER  -