ARS | Publication request: HERBICIDES, BIOTECHNOLOGY

Submitted to: Review Article
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: November 18, 2004
Publication Date: July 14, 2005
Citation: Duke, S.O., Scheffler, B.E., Boyette, C.D., Lydon, J., Oliva, A. 2005. Herbicides, biotechnology. In Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, Wiley-Interscience, New York. 13:346-369.

Technical Abstract: Biotechnology has provided new dimensions to herbicide technology. Transgene technology has generated herbicide-resistant crops (1-3), which have had profound effects on the herbicide market. This same technology has the potential to make crops better competitors with weeds through improving competitive traits or making the crop more allelopathic (4-7). Biocontrol agents can sometimes be applied to weeds, much like a herbicide. However, biocontrol has not been widely applied in agronomic and horticultural crops for weed management because of a number of failings when compared to herbicides. However, biotechnological advances may change the equation, favoring biocontrol in some situations. This review will deal with these biotechnology-based methods of weed management. It is an updated version of a previous review (8).