Glyphosate's Dose-Response: A Comparison of Banana Plants and Weeds

This report delves into the dose-response effects of glyphosate, a broad-spectrum herbicide, on banana plants and various weed species. It highlights the herbicide's widespread use in agriculture for weed control and its mechanism of action, which disrupts plant biochemical processes. The study compares the efficacy of glyphosate on banana crops, a significant commercial crop, versus weeds, considering factors like plant size and growth stage. It references several research studies that indicate the dose-response varies; higher doses may be required for diseased banana plants compared to weeds, which are generally more susceptible. The report also touches upon glyphosate's environmental impact and its relatively low toxicity, emphasizing its popularity among farmers. The findings suggest that the dose-response of weeds to glyphosate is generally higher than that of banana plants, providing valuable insights into effective herbicide application in agricultural settings. The references include studies from Bentivegna et al. (2017), Blomme et al. (2017), de Souza et al. (2017), and Merga et al. (2019).

DOSE-RESPONSE OF GLYPHOSATE KILL IN BANANA VERSUS WEEDS
Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum systematic herbicide routinely used by the farmers to
clear their fields of weeds before the crop emerges. It is an active ingredient and popular
across the world for its property of killing unwanted weeds in the harvest areas or lands.
Weeds in the garden or in the harvest area can really be a hassle. The perennial weeds come
every year unless they are dug out from the roots. After the innovation of glyphosate, killing
the weeds became easier and it kills a wide variety of unwanted weeds. When glyphosate is
applied to the actively growing plants it is trans-located throughout the plant and as a result of
disruption of several biochemical processes the plants begin to die. One of the reasons for
which it is popular among the farmers is low toxicity and non-persistency in the soil. It is also
absorbed in the soil particles and the leaching risk is very low.
The dose-response effect of glyphosate varies according to the size of plants. Banana
is an important cash crop and harvested in many areas for commercial purpose. It is a long
duration crop and grows only under irrigated situation and it faces serious problems regarding
perennial as well as annual weeds grown in the field. Farmers adopt various physical methods
to control weed which is costly due to increased labour wages. A research was conducted in
order to find out the effectiveness of glyphosate herbicide of killing weeds in banana fields
(Bentivegna et al. 2017). In order to destroy the infected banana trees herbicides are being
used since many years. In studies it has been found that the plant destruction rate depends
upon the amount the herbicide applied. The studies also revealed the fact that higher doses of
glyphosate kills maximum number of diseased banana plants and very high dose causes high
re-suckering (de Souza et al. 2017). Therefore, the studies clearly produced the fact that in
killing diseased banana plants, a higher amount of glyphosate is required as per the dose
response curve for this plant (Blomme et al. 2017). Again, some other studies also revealed
that the amount of glyphosate required to kill unwanted weeds are comparatively low as their

dose response is quite high for this herbicide. Even, the growth rate or size of the weed is a
factor that affects the dose response. If the weeds are small in size then a little amount of
glyphosate is enough to destroy them from the field. The weeds are highly susceptible to the
glyphosate treatment according to the researchers (Merga et al. 2019). Needless to say,
literatures and researches proved the fact that the dose response of the weeds is higher than
the banana plants for the herbicide glyphosate.
Glyphosate is found to be less harmful to human beings and it is also less harmful for
the environment as it loses its effectiveness when comes in contact with soil. The dose
response of the plants varies as per their sizes and properties. Due to its effectiveness in
killing unwanted and infected plants, it is popular among the farmers across the world.

References
Bentivegna DJ, Moyano GL, Daddario JF, Tucat G. Determination of optimal doses of
glyphosate for controlling weeds at several stages in southwestern Buenos Aires province
(Argentina), Journal of Plant Protection Research. 2017, page 2.
Blomme G, Dita M, Jacobsen KS, Pérez Vicente L, Molina A, Ocimati W, Poussier S, Prior
P. Bacterial diseases of bananas and enset: current state of knowledge and integrated
approaches toward sustainable management. Frontiers in plant science, 2017, Volume VIII,
page 1290.
de Souza JS, Kizys MM, da Conceição RR, Glebocki G, Romano RM, Ortiga-Carvalho TM,
Giannocco G, da Silva ID, da Silva MR, Romano MA, Chiamolera MI. Perinatal exposure to
glyphosate-based herbicide alters the thyrotrophic axis and causes thyroid hormone
homeostasis imbalance in male rats. Toxicology. 2017, Volume CCCLXXVII, page 25-37.
Merga IF, Tripathi L, Hvoslef-Eide AK, Gebre E. Application of Genetic Engineering for
Control of Bacterial Wilt Disease of Enset, Ethiopia’s Sustainability Crop. Frontiers in plant
science, 2019, Volume X, page 5.