Weed management using low energy lasers, alone and in combination with low dose photosynthetic electron transport inhibitors

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Weeds are estimated to cause average yield losses of approximately 13% globally. However, in certain crops and in certain situations losses can be significantly higher (weeds have been reported to cause 66% loss in wheat yield and 99% loss in onion yield in the UK). Weeds also cause significant management difficulties requiring extra cultivations and also hinder harvests and contaminate harvested product. Management of weeds is vital if cropping systems are going to provide food security. However, weed management can be time- and energy- expensive and often relies heavily on chemical controlsthat can lead to development of herbicide resistance and unwanted environmental effects. One solution to this would be to design and implement weed management systems utilising in-field detection, weed mapping and targeted weed management.This research programme will develop a laser-based target weed management system. Use of low energy lasers alone and in the presence of targeted low doses of photosynthetic electron transport inhibitors will be developed for control of broadleaved and grass weeds. Lasers will be targeted at the growing points of weeds in order to disrupt these and inhibitseedling growth leading to reduced weed competition and subsequent seedling death. The key parameters for laser treatment (required laser power, power density with diffusers, wavelength, laser duration and heat of treatment) will be optimised for each weed species being studied. Optimised parameters will then be used in field trials and in association with automated weed detection and laser-targeting systems. Laser-based weed management systems will be environmentally benign, low in energy usage, safe and effective. This will make them a very valuable component of sustainable crop production systems offering food security to the UK and original proforma document worldwide.