Weeds can provide beneficial uses. Some weeds have medicinal value and are used to treat conditions like snake bites, jaundice, and skin diseases. Weeds are also used industrially to make ropes and thatch boards. Additionally, weeds can be used as vegetables, in plant breeding to donate genes to crops, as green manures to add nutrients to soil, as repellents for nematodes, and as hosts for parasites of crop pests. Weeds find other uses as well, such as reclaiming alkali lands, as fences, mulches, ornamental plants, animal feed, and indicators of air and water pollution.

1. Sub: Weed Management
Topic:- Beneficial Effects of Weeds
Prepared By Dr. Pooja Goswami
Assistant professor (Agronomy)
Department of Agronomy
College of Agriculture Balaghat

2. Beneficial Effects of Weeds
Several known weeds have been put to certain economic
uses since ages. Of these, their medicinal use is perhaps
the most ancient one in India.
1.Medicinal Use:- Some weeds have medicinal value.
e.g. leucas aspera against snake bite, jaundice.
ArgemoneMexicana control skin diseases. Oxalisspp
leaves used for treating skin troubles. Bhringraj
(Eclipta alba) are also used as hair tonic for
problematic hair.
2.Used In Industry:- Typha and Saccharum spp. are
used in cottage industry for making ropes and thatch
boards.
3. Used in value addition :- Cichorium intybus roots
are used for adding flavour to coffee powder.
4.Used as Vegetables:- Weeds like Chenopodium
album,Amaranthusviridis, and Portulaca spp., form
good leafy vegetables.
5.Used in Breeding Purpose:- Certain weeds have
been used to donatespecific genes to our crop plants,
for instance, Saccharum spontaneumhas been widely
exploited for developing the present noble canes for
North India.

3. 6.Used as a Green manures:- Many weeds have a
luxuriant leafy growth and when buried in soil as
green manure add considerable amount humus and
plant nutrients in the soil. gokharu (Xanthium
strumarium) captain about 3.0 to 3.5% nitrogen on
dry weight basis.eg. (Casia tora).
7.Used as a Repellent:- More recently, certain weeds
have exhibited nematicidal properties. Their
incorporation into the soil has been found to result in
greatly reduced root-knot nematode population.
Some promising weeds in this respect are Crotolaria,
Parthenium, Calotropis and Eichhornia spp.
8.Used as a host Plant for many crop pest:- Some
entomologists have found that parasites and predators
of certain crop pests also survive on insect pests of
certain weeds. Thus, such weeds help in maintaining
the continuity of life cycle of certain useful parasites.
Cassia occidentalis as well as upon the egg of caster
semilooper which damage caster plants.

4. 9.Reclamationof alkali lands :- Weeds like Satyanashi
(Argemone mexicana) is useful for reclaiming alkali
lands.
10. Used as Fences:- Weeds are used for live fencing
e.g. Cactus, Wild Safflower.
11. Used as a Mulches:-Weeds are used as mulching
material to check the evaporation losses from soil.
Chenopodium album
12. Used as Ornaments:-Some weeds serve as
ornamental plants :- Some weed species bear very
beautiful and attractive flowers e.g. Ghaneri (lantana
camera) Eichhornia crassipes.
13. Used in composting:- The compost prepared from
BLWs contains more N than grassy weed. Aquatic weed
lie water hyacinth are also used in compost preparations.
14. Used as feed for animals:- Hariyali grass (Cynodon
dactylon)and Cenchrus ciliaris, Dichanthium annulatum
,Eclipta alba weeds of grass land serve as food for
animals.
15. Used as Indicator Plants:- NO2 and SO2 air
pollution determined by wild mustard and chick weed

5. respectively. Commelina sp (Copper), Eichornia
crassipes (Copper Zinc, lead and cadmium in water
bodies.