A review on weed management in millets

In recent years, millets have been recognized as nutri-cereals and given much needed impetus for their cultivation by national and international policies. Millets are cultivated mostly under rainfed conditions and under-nourished soils which makes them more susceptible to weed competition losses. Grasses, sedges and broad-leaved including parasitic weed Striga infest millet crops. Weeds cause millets yield reduction of 15-97%. It is essential to control weeds during the critical period of crop-weed competition which may be 15-42 days after sowing. Weed management in millets mostly relies on the cultural and mechanical methods due to lack of selective herbicides for usage in these crops, especially the minor millets. Integration of several methods is required to obtain optimum weed management and millet crops yield. Weed competitive crop varieties, reduced spacing, optimum fertilizer dose and placement, mulching with crop residues, inter-cropping, cultural and mechanical methods and use of selective herbicides is the appropriate strategy for weed management in millets. Striga management through resistant varieties, crop rotation, catch crops, herbicide use and herbicide resistant varieties may be opted based on the suitability of the methods.