Kashmir Weeds : Description, Uses and Control

About Book

Weeds are plants that are persistent, undesirable, and detrimental, as they impede the development of other useful plants. Consequently, they have an impact on the economy, natural resources, agriculture, and environment. These are an issue in field and horticultural crops, orchards and vineyards, pastures, rangelands, lawns, water bodies, natural landscapes, industrial areas, roads and railway tracts etc. Weeds pose a great threat to the crop production by competing for light, water nutrients and space, thereby reducing the quality and quantity of the produce. Making sure the undesirable vegetation has been accurately identified is the first step in creating an effective weed management program. The information regarding the weed flora in Kashmir Valley is scattered and dispersed in numerous publications and research papers. An attempt has been to collect information regarding prominent broad leaf weeds of Kashmir valley. The weeds described in this publication have been collected mainly from the Kashmir plains and mid hills, ranging in altitude from 1550 to 2000 m amsl. The ecologies included the areas around rice fields, roads, railway tracts and Karewas of district Anantnag, Srinagar, Budgam, Kulgam and Baramulla. This publication has mainly focused on prominent broad leaf weeds. Each weed has been described in respect of Kashmiri name (wherever available), Hindi name, common name, order and family. Further each weed has been described in terms of the growth habit, morphological features and ecology. Important growth phases of weeds have covered in the photographs covering vegetative and the reproductive stages. The photographs have been enlarged for better visibility of smaller parts. The term weed always brings a negative impression to our mind and ignoring the positive aspects of the naturally growing plants. Majority of the weeds have been used in ethnomedicine, as vegetables and fodder since times immemorial. An attempt has been made to highlight the positive aspects of the prevalent weeds regarding their economic and ecological uses. Since many weeds pose a great challenge in agricultural and non-agricultural ecosystems, their management becomes often inevitable. Management practices vary greatly, depending on the growth habit mode of propagation and ecological habit and their response to the herbicides. Cultural, mechanical and herbicidal methods have been suggested for each weed. I hope that the manual shall serve as useful resource for students, researchers and extension workers for the efficient weed management. Although utmost care has been taken to minimize the errors, there might be some errors or misidentification of weeds at the species level. We shall always appreciate the positive suggestions for the improvement of the manual. The manual has been published for academic and research purpose and medicinal uses of the weeds and the herbicides suggested should not be treated as recommendations. Dr. Ashaq Hussain Professor Agronomy, SKUAST-Kashmir