BIOHERB

• Grant agreement ID: 2021 LLAV 00071

• Total project budget: 20.000€

• Start Date: 12/10/2022

  End Date: 11/07/2023

Weeds are a key factor in crop yield through competition for natural resources (nutrients, water, light, etc.) leading to significant production losses. Current technics of weed management include the application of synthetic herbicides, highly effective in weed control but with detrimental effects on environment, since they can cause damages in native flora and other organisms, and soil and water pollution.

To avoid this, traditional chemical herbicides should be replaced by more sustainable products for weed control such as bioherbicides from natural plant derivatives. These compounds are in general easily biodegradable and environmentally safe and clean, so plant extracts could be used as bioherbicides to control not desirable weeds in a more environmentally sustainable way.

The main objective of BIOHERB is to study the potential capacity of a bioherbicide from plant extracts to control Amaranthus spp., a weed broadly distributed in Catalonian crops and other regions of Spain.

This project is linked to the Knowledge Industry grants (Llavor i Producte) and has the support of the Department of Research and Universities of the Generalitat de Catalunya.