XXXI Annual Review Meeting of AICRP Weed Management was held at Odisha University of Agricultural and Technology Bhubaneswar during 19-21 June, 2024 to review the progress of AICRP-WM centres for the year 2023-24, and to formulate the new technical programme for the next two years. Dr. S.K. Chaudhari, Deputy Director General (Natural Resource Management), ICAR, New Delhi was the Chief Guest of the inaugural program. In his virtual address, he emphasized the various issues and challenges in weed management such as impact of climate change on crop-weed interaction, emerging problem of herbicide resistance in weeds, herbicide residues in food chain and non-target organisms, invasive weeds etc. He stressed upon the need of alternative weed management strategies for natural farming, organic farming, management of herbicide resistant weeds, weed risk assessment, etc. a comprehensive database on impact of climate change on weeds and herbicide efficacy is required, he added. The session was presided over by Dr. P. K. Roul, Vice-Chancellor, OUAT, Bhubaneswar. In his presidential address, he highlighted the fact that the crops and weeds are inseparable, but we have to manage the weeds in such a way that they could cause minimum damage to crops. Farmer’s participation is very necessary in development of any sustainable weed management technology, he added.

Dr. Rajbir Singh, Assistant Director General (Agronomy, Agroforestry and Climate Change), ICAR, New Delhi and Guest of Honour, suggested to develop sustainable weed management technologies for Direct-seeded rice and drone-based application of herbicides. Dr. A. K. Nayak, Director, ICAR-National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack and the Guest of Honour, emphasized on interdisciplinary research in weed management, development of herbicide resistant non-transgenic rice varieties and monitoring and mapping of herbicide resistant weeds in different agro-ecological regions. Dr. S.K. Panda, Dean of Research, OUAT, welcomed the dignitaries and participants. In his welcome address, he highlighted the importance of weeds and weed management in crop production.

Earlier, Dr. J.S. Mishra, Director, ICAR-Directorate of Weed Research, Jabalpur, in his opening remarks, briefly mentioned about the emerging challenges in weed management and way forward to address these issues. He emphasized to develop a strong stewardship programme for the success of new technologies like herbicide resistant crops. Strong collaboration with herbicide industry, and training & capacity building of stakeholders is needed, he added. Dr. R.P. Dubey, In-charge, AICRP-WM presented the salient achievements of the AICRP-WM for the year 2023-24. More than 100 participants including Principal Investigators and scientists from AICRP-WM centres, scientists from ICAR-DWR Jabalpur, and other ICAR institutes, officials from State Government, representatives from herbicide industries, faculty members and students of OUAT, Bhubaneswar attended the inaugural programme. Best performing AICRP-WM centres were recognized for their outstanding contributions. Five publications on weed management were released. Retired weed scientists of the OUAT were also felicitated on the occasion. Dr. Rabiratna Dash, Principal Investigator, OUAT, proposed the vote of thanks.