Weed management in sugar beet: A review

Sugar is an essential commodity and an integral part of the food chain which is the cheapest source of energy. Sugars play several important roles in foods such as they add taste, texture and color to the baked goods. Sugar beet is the second sugar producing crop in the world. Weeds in beet crops reducing the yield in the field level as well as making the harvesting and processing difficult. The weed seeds in soil bank are dangerous as they germinate in subsequent crop cultivation. Severe yield losses are common as a result of failure to weed control. However, several weed control measures along with herbicides provide a significant increase of average yields in sugar beet. But as herbicides increasing environmental pollution, it has become necessary to reduce the use of them in order to protect the human health as well as the other living organisms. For this reason, alternative ways of controlling weeds are being practicing in all over the world. The efficient way of reducing the use of herbicides is replacing herbicide treatments with revaluation of agronomic techniques. Thereby weed control combine both chemical and non-chemical methods in integrated manner. The integrated weed control approach provides a potential reduction in weed population. But however, this system is not as efficient to minimize the herbicide utilization on larger scale basis in sugar beet crop field.