New Initiatives to Solve Herbicide Resistance

Building the resistance of barnyard grass to glyphosate is expected to be a big threat to sustainable agriculture in Australia. James Clark, Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) northern panel says that production could fall to 20 percent if glyphosate resistance reaches a level that would include tillage as a regular part of farming once more.

Before this happens, a new five-year research project on integrated weed management (IWM) for northern region weeds will be conducted under the support of GRDC. Research activities will further confirm current GRDC results that moisture stress and glyphosate resistance are the two big issues in the fight against barnyard grass.

In addition, barnyard grass survival was found to be a complex combination of factors that include resistance status, herbicide rate and moisture stress. Dr. Steve Walker, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (DEEDI) says growers must ensure herbicides are applied to actively growing barnyard grass plant, preferably within a seven to 14 day period after good rain. Glyphosate resistant plant monitoring could be conducted immediately after a large majority of susceptible plants are dead.

The original news can be viewed at http://www.grdc.com.au/director/events/mediareleases?item_id=62FFDC71B6F57EFC8FAC5BB995AF731A&pageNumber=1.