What term describes a herbicide that kills a broad spectrum of plants?

What term describes a herbicide that kills a broad spectrum of plants?

• A. Localized
• B. Nonselective
• C. Systemic
• D. Contact

Answer: (B)

A nonselective herbicide is one that kills a broad range of plant species, not just a specific group. This means it will affect many kinds of plants—grasses, broadleaf plants, and more—making it useful when you want to clear an area completely.

Localized describes where or how the herbicide acts (restricted to a small area), not the number of species it kills. Systemic refers to how the chemical moves inside the plant after uptake, often translocating to different tissues; it doesn’t inherently indicate how many species are affected. Contact means it kills only the parts it touches on the plant, without necessarily moving through the plant, and again doesn’t specify the spectrum of plants impacted.

So, the term that best describes killing a broad spectrum of plants is nonselective.