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Mechanized Weed Management in Vegetable Crops

Encyclopedia of Smart Agriculture Technologies

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Definition

Mechanized weed management as defined here refers to technology that can remove weeds all around a crop plant.

Automated weed management refers to recent weed removal equipment that can differentiate between crops and weeds, which allows selective removal of weeds without damage to the crop.

Overview

The technology presented here is automated weeders that have the capacity to selectively remove weeds by mechanical means such as steel knives controlled by hydraulics or electric motors. These weeding knives and other weed removal technologies are controlled by cameras and computer systems that differentiate between crops and weeds. As the machine moves through the field, the weeding knives move in and out of the crop row, outward to avoid the crop and inward to uproot the weeds. This technology is needed because vegetable crop production is dependent on increasingly expensive hand labor for weed control, and there is no longer enough weeding labor to meet the needs of the...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Sciences, University of California Davis, Salinas, CA, USA

    Steven A. Fennimore

  2. Department of Biosystems Engineering, University of Arizona, Yuma, AZ, USA

    Mark C. Siemens

Authors
  1. Steven A. Fennimore
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  2. Mark C. Siemens
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Steven A. Fennimore .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Biological Systems Engineering, Washington State University, Prosser, WA, USA

    Qin Zhang

Section Editor information

  1. Department Head of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, PA, USA

    Paul Heinemann

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Fennimore, S.A., Siemens, M.C. (2022). Mechanized Weed Management in Vegetable Crops. In: Zhang, Q. (eds) Encyclopedia of Smart Agriculture Technologies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89123-7_244-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89123-7_244-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-89123-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-89123-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Mechanized Weed Management in Vegetable Crops
    Published:
    09 November 2022

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89123-7_244-2

  2. Original

    Mechanized Weed Management in Vegetable Crops
    Published:
    27 September 2022

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89123-7_244-1

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