Weed Control in Organic Roughage Production

In organic ruminant product system, high quality hay, produced in organic agriculture, is a great need. One of the factors that negatively affect quality of roughage production is weeds. This study was prepared to provide information about the weed control in organic roughage production. Because chemical herbicide use in organic farming is not allowed, there is no chance to use herbicide to control weeds. Therefore, weeds should be suppressed by different methods. As known quality roughage is obtained from meadow-pasture lands and forage crops grown in field. In the forage crops agriculture, first of all, it is necessary to sow to the field free of weeds and to use high quality seed. When forage plants were sown at the field where cereal or hoe plants was grown as previous crop, weeds are less problem. In the perennial species, planting with a companion crop is also effective in weed control. In pasture lands, weeds can be controlled with following grazing management principles and grazing planning. In addition, some pasture improvement methods can be effective in combating weeds