AHRI Agronomy Trials
Introducing our new GRDC funded crop competition projects. Dr Mike Ashworth and Roberto Lujan Rocha are working to minimise ryegrass and wild radish weed seed production, whilst maximising yields.
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Behind every successful HWSC approach is crop competition
Mon, 5 Nov 2018 Harvest weed seed control (HWSC) is often described as the holy grail of weed management, but we all know how the saying “Behind every successful person…” ends. There’re usually more factors at play than just the individual, whether that be lots of coffee or a great support team. The same goes for HWSC. Research by Michael Walsh from the University of Sydney and John Broster from Charles Sturt University has shown that crop competition plays an important support role in the success of harvest weed seed control. Click through to learn more! |
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Influence of Crop Competition and Harvest Weed Seed Control on Rigid Ryegrass (Lolium rigidum) Seed Retention Height in Wheat Crop Canopies
Tue, 9 Oct 2018 In this paper, Walsh et al at several sites confirmed that the majority of retained Lolium seed at grain harvest will be captured. This was true in crop fields in which HWSC had been conducted for several years. Please note that we are NOT stating that plants cannot evolve resistance to HWSC. Indeed, everything that herbicide resistance has taught us is that plant populations will respond to any persistent, effective selection pressure. Importantly, this study showed that a good, competitive wheat crop meant that Lolium responded with taller plants, meaning that retained weed seed was relatively high in the canopy and thus captured by HWSC. This shows the yield and weed control advantages of having a good, competitive high yielding crop. A healthy, competitive crop, HWSC and diversity in methods of weed control are key to sustainable systems! |
