New uses of old herbicides for the control of barley grass in cereals

Authors: Ben Fleet¹, Amanda Cook², Ian Richter², Christopher Preston¹, and Gurjeet Gill¹

¹School of Agriculture, Food & Wine, University of Adelaide, ²Minnipa Ag Centre, SARDI

Funded By: GRDC Stubble Initiative MSF00003

Project Title: Productive, Profitable and Sustainable Paddock Rotations

Peer Review: Nigel Wilhelm (SARDI)

Key Words: herbicides, barley grass, cereals, weed control

Key Messages

• Potential of older herbicides from broadacre and horticultural industries to control barley grass in barley was evaluated in a field trial at Minnipa in 2017.
• Overreliance on group B herbicides for post-emergent control of barley grass, has already resulted in high incidence of resistance to SU herbicides and resistance to imidazolinone herbicides is also likely to occur in the future.
• Extremely dry conditions at Minnipa at the start of the growing season in 2017 were unsuitable for the activity of pre-emergent herbicides on barley grass. Even under these challenging conditions, an experimental herbicide (Experimental-1) at the high rate provided effective pre-emergent control of barley grass.