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Horticulturae
Special Issues
Conventional and Organic Weed Management in Horticultural Production
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Conventional and Organic Weed Management in Horticultural Production

A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524). This special issue belongs to the section "Floriculture, Nursery and Landscape, and Turf".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 5 February 2026 | Viewed by 887

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Dragana Bozic

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Nemanjina 6, 11080 Zemun, Serbia
Interests: weed; herbicide; gene flow; invasive weeds; integrated weed management; AI in weed science; alelopathy
Dr. Marija Sarić-Krsmanović

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory of Herbology, Institute of Pesticides and Environmental Protection, Banatska 31b, 11080 Belgrade, Serbia
Interests: weed; herbicide; weed management; weed biology; weed ecology; alellopathy
Prof. Dr. David Kopsell

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Agriculture Department, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790, USA
Interests: plant nutrition and quality factors of vegetables; ornamentals; turfgrass

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Weeds have a serious impact on horticultural production, they reduce the quantity and quality of horticultural products and affect both the industry and consumers. Yield losses caused by weeds depend on several factors, such as the time of weed emergence, weed density, the types of weed and crop, weather conditions, etc. If a weed is not controlled, its spread can lead to high yield losses, which can reach up to 100 % in extreme situations. To prevent or at least reduce losses, we need to consider the use of all available weed control methods, including proactive measures, monitoring, crop rotations, tillage, crop–weed competition, herbicide rotation and mixtures, biological control, allelopathy, etc., and to combine these to ensure economical and sustainable weed management in horticulture.

The aim of this Special Issue is to gather together new scientific findings and critical reports on all innovative aspects of weed management in horticulture. Therefore, original research articles or reviews that primarily, but not exclusively, address the following topics: biology and ecology of weeds, competition between crops and weeds, critical timing for weed removal, allelopathy, methods of weed control, integrated weed management, herbicide resistance, the effects of climate change on weeds, precision weed control, modeling and robotics in weed management, etc., are welcome in this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Dragana Bozic
Dr. Marija Sarić-Krsmanović
Prof. Dr. David Kopsell
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Horticulturae is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • weeds
  • integrated weed management
  • competition
  • allelopathy
  • herbicides
  • herbicide resistance
  • non-chemical measures
  • climate change
  • precision weed control
  • modeling and robotics in weed management

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 950 KiB  
Article
Survey of Weed Flora Diversity as a Starting Point for the Development of a Weed Management Strategy for Medicinal Crops in Pančevo, Serbia
by Dragana Božić, Ana Dragumilo, Tatjana Marković, Urban Šilc, Svetlana Aćić, Teodora Tojić, Miloš Rajković and Sava Vrbničanin
Horticulturae 2025, 11(8), 882; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae11080882 - 31 Jul 2025
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Abstract
Similarly to conventional field crops, weeds often pose significant problems in the cultivation of medicinal plants. To date, no comprehensive documentation exists regarding weed infestation levels in these crops in Serbia. The objective of this study was to provide a valuable foundation for [...] Read more.
Similarly to conventional field crops, weeds often pose significant problems in the cultivation of medicinal plants. To date, no comprehensive documentation exists regarding weed infestation levels in these crops in Serbia. The objective of this study was to provide a valuable foundation for developing effective, site-specific weed management strategies in medicinal crop production. Weeds in five medicinal crops (lemon balm, fennel, peppermint, ribwort plantain, German chamomile), were surveyed based on the agro-phytosociological method between 2019 and 2024, and across 59 plots. A total of 109 weed species were recorded, belonging to 29 families and 88 genera. Among them, 75 were annuals and 34 perennials, including 93 broadleaved species, 10 grasses, and one parasitic species. All surveyed plots were heavily infested with perennial weeds such as Elymus repens, Cirsium arvense, Convolvulus arvensis, Lepidium draba, Rumex crispus, Sorghum halepense, Taraxacum officinale, etc. Also, several annual species were found in high abundance and frequency, including Amaranthus retroflexus, Chenopodium album, Galium aparine, Lactuca serriola, Lamium amplexicaule, L. purpureum, Papaver rhoeas, Stellaria media, Veronica hederifolia, V. persica, etc. The most important ecological factors influencing the composition of weed vegetation in investigated medicinal crops were temperature and light for fennel and peppermint plots, soil reaction for lemon balm and ribwort plantain plots, and nutrient content for German chamomile plots. A perspective for exploitation of these results is the development of effective weed control programs tailored to this specific cropping system. Weed control strategies should consider such information, targeting the control of the most frequent, abundant, and dominant species existing in a crops or locality. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conventional and Organic Weed Management in Horticultural Production)
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Graphical abstract

25 pages, 4261 KiB  
Article
Influence of Mulching and Planting Density on Agronomic and Economic Traits of Melissa officinalis L.
by Stefan V. Gordanić, Dragoja Radanović, Miloš Rajković, Milan Lukić, Ana Dragumilo, Snežana Mrđan, Petar Batinić, Natalija Čutović, Sara Mikić, Željana Prijić and Tatjana Marković
Horticulturae 2025, 11(8), 866; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae11080866 - 22 Jul 2025
Viewed by 403
Abstract
Melissa officinalis L. (Lamiaceae) is a perennial plant species widely used in the pharmaceutical and food industries, particularly valued for its sedative properties. This study investigates the impact of synthetic mulch film and planting density as two experimental factors on agronomic performance, raw [...] Read more.
Melissa officinalis L. (Lamiaceae) is a perennial plant species widely used in the pharmaceutical and food industries, particularly valued for its sedative properties. This study investigates the impact of synthetic mulch film and planting density as two experimental factors on agronomic performance, raw material quality, and economic efficiency in lemon balm production. The experiment was conducted at three locations in Serbia (L1: Bačko Novo Selo, L2: Bavanište, L3: Vilandrica) from 2022 to 2024, using two planting densities on synthetic mulch film (F1: 8.3 plants m−2; F2: 11.4 plants m−2) and a control treatment without mulch (C). The synthetic mulch film used was a synthetic black polypropylene film (Agritela Black, 90 g/m2), uniformly applied in strips across the cultivation area, covering approximately 78% of the soil surface. The results showed consistent increases in morphological parameters and yield across the years. Plant height in F1 and F2 treatments ranged from 65 to 75 cm, while in the control it reached up to 50 cm (2022–2024). Fresh biomass yield varied from 13.4 g per plant (C) to 378.08 g per plant (F2), and dry biomass yield from 60.3 g (C) to 125.4 g (F2). The highest essential oil content was observed in F2 (1.2% in 2022), while the control remained at 0.8%. The F2 treatment achieved complete weed suppression throughout the experiment without the use of herbicides, demonstrating both agronomic and ecological advantages. Economic evaluation revealed that F2 generated the highest cumulative profit (€142,164.5) compared to the control (€65,555.3). Despite higher initial investment, F2 had the most favorable cost–benefit ratio in the long term. This study highlights the crucial influence of mulching and planting density on optimizing lemon balm production across diverse climatic and soil conditions, while also underscoring the importance of sustainable, non-chemical weed management strategies in lemon balm cultivation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conventional and Organic Weed Management in Horticultural Production)
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