The ICAR-sponsored 21-days (7-27 January, 2025) Winter school on “New directions for integrated weed management: Modern technologies, tools and knowledge discovery” was inaugurated today at the ICAR-Directorate of Weed Research, Jabalpur. In his inaugural address, Dr. SK Chaudhari, Deputy Director General, (NRM) ICAR, New Delhi highlighted the importance of weed management in sustainable food system. There have been many new developments in weed science such as automated weed control and robotics, nano-herbicides, genomics, herbicide tolerant crops, mechanism of herbicide resistance in weeds, weed-climate interactions, weeds in regenerative agriculture, etc., therefore, the scientists working on weed management must update their knowledge and skill to address the emerging challenges in weed management, he added.

Dr. PK Mishra, Vice Chancellor, JNKVV, Jabalpur highlighted the practical importance of such training programmes, and suggested to give more focus on weed identification and impact of toxic weeds on animal health. Earlier, Dr. JS Mishra, Director ICAR-DWR, Jabalpur and the Course Director of the Winter School programme gave a brief on the importance of the training programmes in designing new research projects and addressing the weed management problems at field level.

Dr. VK Chaodary, Dr. PK Mukherjee and Dr Yogita Gharde coordinated the programme. Total 25 participants including Scientists, Assistant Professors and Subject Matter Specialists from six States viz, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan and Tripura are participating in this 21-days programme.