Sugandhavastak, more popular as Bathu ka sag in Hindi is actually a weed in wheat field. It is popular green leafy vegetable in North India and has amazing medicinal and nutritional virtues. The article written by me on this plant is attached. Modern agriculture is trying to remove the weeds and I appeal such useful weeds must not go extinct. We must popularize its applications.
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This is winter. I am enjoying this leafy vegetable
Yes...that is what I said
We need wheat... AND the weed!
Please see your posting above. This plant grows fast and it is also a good nutritous food. Please do not compare it with Parthenium and other such plants just to prove your point. I too said it must be grown in approriate areas for which you commented funny. Your contradictions causes fun sir.
These all are medicinal plants and not affecting any crop production. What I want to say is that we can not allow crop weeds to grow in agricultural fields because otherwise these will take over the whole field in 2-3 crop cycles. One suggestion is that these should be removed manually. No doubt this is very good method but for this method extensive labour is required. if somewhere and some one has the labour, can go for this method.
I am giving three examples of weeds which are a danger for all kind of environments.
1. Water hyacinth... this weed has invaded all water bodies...can we allow this to grow freely???
2. Lantana camara.. This has affected all hilly areas.. The biodiversity has greatly been affected by this plant in Hilly areas. Can we allow this plant grow freely..
3. Parthenium..has invaded in plain areas...This plant has affected so much to Karnataka in past that in 1972 Karnataka government had to pass a bill or resolution from its state assembly to control this weed... One method called cultural method was used to control this weed.....This method means to grow another plant in its place... In karanata one plant called Cassia was planted .. yes this plant was able to control Pathenium..but now cassia is major weed...
4. Phalaris minor is a weed which has threatened wheat production in Haryana. punjab and Western UP....
5. Cusucuta ..This weed kill the tree on which it grow..
I cam so many examples.....
we are working on crop weeds from last 20 years.....and we have have reached this conclusion that weeds compete with crops for space, light and nutrients and ultimately affect grain production......so these have to be controlled to grow sufficient food grains....
I never said that kill this plant, vanish that plant......But control is desired/needed for food grain sustainability.
India needs to produce more than 200 million tonnes of food grains to feed its population.....
To achieve that irrigation, pest control, weed control is needed.....
Yes these may be different methods to achieve this.
These all are medicinal plants and not affecting any crop production. What I want to say is that we can not allow crop weeds to grow in agricultural fields because otherwise these will take over the whole field in 2-3 crop cycles. One suggestion is that these should be removed manually. No doubt this is very good method but for this method extensive labour is required. if somewhere and some one has the labour, can go for this method.
I am giving three examples of weeds which are a danger for all kind of environments.
1. Water hyacinth... this weed has invaded all water bodies...can we a,low this to grow freely???
2. Lantana camara.. This has affected all hilly areas.. The biodiversity has greatly been affected by this plant in Hilly areas. Can we allow this plant grow freely..
3. Parthenium..has invaded all fellow land in plain areas...This plant has affected some much to Karnataka in past that in 1972 Karnataka government had to pass a bill or resolution from its state assembly to control this weed... One method called cultural method was used to control this weed.....This method means to grow another plant in its place... In karanata one plant called Cassia was planted .. yes this plant was able to control Pathenium..but now cassia is major weed...
4. Phalaris minor is a weed which has threatened wheat production in Haryana. punjab and Western UP....
5. Cusucuta ..This weed kill the tree on which it grow..
I cam so many examples.....
we are working on crop weeds from last 20 years.....and we have have reached this conclusion that weeds compete with crops for space, light and nutrients and ultimately affect grain production......so these have to be controlled to grow sufficient food grains....
I never said that kill this plant, vanish that plant......But control is desired/needed for food grain sustainability.
India needs to produce more than 200 million tonnes of food grains to feed its population.....
To achieve that irrigation, pest control, weed control is needed.....
Yes these may be different methods to achieve this.
Brahmi, Manduk parni and many other useful medicinal plants are weeds..it is funny if we destroy them to make world free from medicines for human sufferings.
most of the drugs which we identified and still need to identify are weeds only,
may be do you know are not, the plant which gives fragrance to Coffee powder is also a weed, just you can search for its name.
Dear Dr.V.K.Garg sir, I think weed is any plant other than the main crop plant, for example if i am cultivating paddy, unfortunately any maize or jowar (not exactly) plants are there in the field, we call them other than paddy plants as weeds.
as you told like there were number of unreported studies on this weed (so called) and 2,4-D etc...
if it is true I can say that our so called elders were innocent, they used 2,4-D to control this plant. Do you think the seed (100000 seeds per plant ) is a problem? can't we overcome this problem by cutting the plant in its early stages?, like in case of all leafy vegetables, generally we can observe this; most of leafy vegetables are soled at their early stage.
by this we can avoid the problem of so called seed (100000 seeds per plant ), of course it will not be a problem then.
Idea of destroying useful medicinal plant is funny..please do not talk about destroying such useful plant to invite disease
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