Biological control strategies as sustainable alternatives to herbicides in weed management

IF 5.5 1区农林科学 Q1 AGRONOMY

European Journal of Agronomy Pub Date : 2026-04-01 Epub Date: 2026-01-13 DOI:10.1016/j.eja.2026.128003

Godspower Oke Omokaro

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Herbicides remain the dominant tools for weed control because of their cost effectiveness and selectivity, yet prolonged and intensive use has raised concern regarding soil degradation, disruption of microbial communities, non-target effects, and the rapid emergence of herbicide resistance. This research synthesizes evidence on the ecological impacts of herbicides and evaluates biological control strategies as sustainable and complementary alternatives within integrated weed management. A PRISMA-ScR guided literature review identified 108 peer reviewed studies published between 2000 and 2025 from Scopus, PubMed, ScienceDirect and SpringerLink, with selective inclusion of foundational literature capturing early biological weed control research. Evidence indicates that herbicides alter soil microbial biomass, enzyme activity, and community composition, with outcomes dependent on herbicide class, application rate, soil properties, and environmental context. Glyphosate and atrazine suppress sensitive microbial taxa while enriching specialized degraders, reflecting ecological disruption and microbial adaptation. Fungal communities, particularly arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, are consistently vulnerable, leading to reduced nutrient acquisition and weakened plant resilience. Herbicide resistance continues to expand globally, undermining long term chemical efficacy. Biological control strategies, including microbial agents such as Trichoderma and Bacillus, insect herbivores, grazing animals, allelopathic crops, bioherbicides, compost and biochar, demonstrate diverse mechanisms of weed suppression and soil restoration across agroecosystems. These approaches enhance crop competitiveness and stimulate beneficial microbial functions, although field performance is constrained by environmental variability, formulation stability, regulatory barriers, and limited extension support. The findings emphasize the need for integrative and sound weed management.

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生物防治策略作为除草剂在杂草管理中的可持续替代品

除草剂仍然是杂草控制的主要工具，因为它们具有成本效益和选择性，但长期和密集使用引起了对土壤退化、微生物群落破坏、非目标效应和除草剂抗性迅速出现的担忧。本研究综合了除草剂对生态影响的证据，并评价了生物防治策略作为综合杂草管理中可持续和互补的替代方案。PRISMA-ScR引导的文献综述确定了2000年至2025年间发表在Scopus、PubMed、ScienceDirect和SpringerLink上的108项同行评议研究，并选择性地纳入了早期生物杂草控制研究的基础文献。有证据表明，除草剂会改变土壤微生物生物量、酶活性和群落组成，其结果取决于除草剂种类、施用量、土壤性质和环境背景。草甘膦和阿特拉津抑制了敏感的微生物类群，同时丰富了专门的降解物，反映了生态破坏和微生物适应。真菌群落，特别是丛枝菌根真菌，一直很脆弱，导致养分获取减少和植物恢复力减弱。除草剂耐药性在全球范围内持续扩大，破坏了化学品的长期功效。生物防治策略，包括微生物制剂，如木霉和芽孢杆菌，昆虫食草动物，放牧动物，化感作物，生物除草剂，堆肥和生物炭，展示了在农业生态系统中杂草抑制和土壤恢复的多种机制。这些方法提高了作物的竞争力，刺激了有益微生物的功能，尽管田间性能受到环境变化、配方稳定性、监管障碍和有限的推广支持的限制。研究结果强调了对杂草进行综合合理管理的必要性。

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来源期刊

European Journal of Agronomy 农林科学-农艺学

CiteScore

8.30

自引率

7.70%

发文量

187

审稿时长

4.5 months

期刊介绍： The European Journal of Agronomy, the official journal of the European Society for Agronomy, publishes original research papers reporting experimental and theoretical contributions to field-based agronomy and crop science. The journal will consider research at the field level for agricultural, horticultural and tree crops, that uses comprehensive and explanatory approaches. The EJA covers the following topics: crop physiology crop production and management including irrigation, fertilization and soil management agroclimatology and modelling plant-soil relationships crop quality and post-harvest physiology farming and cropping systems agroecosystems and the environment crop-weed interactions and management organic farming horticultural crops papers from the European Society for Agronomy bi-annual meetings In determining the suitability of submitted articles for publication, particular scrutiny is placed on the degree of novelty and significance of the research and the extent to which it adds to existing knowledge in agronomy.