Australia
November 21, 2014

The early and effective control of summer weeds is critical if northern growers are to maximise stored soil moisture and nutrients for next season’s crops.

A rethink of traditional control programs may be required though with the escalating issue of herbicide resistance across major cropping areas of New South Wales and Queensland posing a significant challenge for growers.

In a bid to increase industry knowledge of the latest research and development outcomes and best practice recommendations on control tactics for summer grass weeds, the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) is holding two webinars on grass weed control on Wednesday December 3 and Wednesday December 10.

The webinars are suited to growers and advisors and will comprise a 30 minute presentation from an industry expert followed by approximately 15 minutes of question time. Both webinars will start at 8:00am Queensland time and 9:00am New South Wales time.

The first webinar on December 3 will focus on grass weed control with Group A herbicides and highlight situations where Group A herbicides have shown to be an effective integrated weed management tactic, explain how to maximise performance in the field and offer advice on delaying resistance to this mode of action.

Expert presenter, ICAN senior consultant Mark Congreve (pictured), will draw on his experience of more than 20 years in multinational agricultural chemical development to discuss the effective and sustainable use of Group A herbicides in summer fallow and broadleaf crops.

Mr Congreve said planning a coordinated and effective strategy to control in-crop and fallow weeds, particularly problem grassy weeds, would help growers maximise crop yields while delaying the development of resistance on the farm.

“An understanding of the role Group A herbicides can play in an integrated program, coupled with the factors that can affect their efficacy, is very important in achieving consistent results with the commonly-used Group A chemicals,” Mr Congreve said.

“Allowing survival of grass weeds will not only rapidly deplete significant amounts of stored summer moisture and valuable nutrients from the fallow but it dramatically increases the risk of herbicide resistance developing.”

The second webinar on December 10 will address the latest research on barnyard grass management through the experience of respected industry experts Tony Cook from NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) and Michael Widderick and Jeff Werth from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF Queensland) who have been extensively studying the ecology, evolution of resistance and management of barnyard grass in fallow and summer crops.

“Barnyard grass is a prolific weed of fallow and summer crops with multiple germinations occurring each spring and summer. Over recent seasons many glyphosate resistant populations have been identified making control in fallow especially difficult,” Mr Congreve said.

“This webinar will highlight the ecology of barnyard grass and how to use this information to assist in managing it, the latest on herbicide resistance in this species, and weed control tactics that are being successfully employed to manage this weed.”

To register for webinar 1 – Grass weed control with Group A herbicides – visit https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4511506577719487233

To register for webinar 2 – Managing barnyard grass, the latest research – visit https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6320378027759881985

For more information on the webinars or to access links to recordings of previously conducted webinars visit www.icanrural.com.au/iwm.html

Contact Mark Congreve on 0427209234 or Erica McKay at ICAN on 02 9482 4930 or email erica@icanrural.com.au
 

Website: http://www.grdc.com.au

Published: November 21, 2014