South Perth, Western Australia
May 15, 2007
The Department of
Agriculture and Food, Western Australia has been looking
closely at the latest developments in weed control in Europe.
Department development officer Glen Riethmuller has recently
returned from Germany and Denmark where he examined non-chemical
weed control and more efficient pesticide methods that he said
may be important to Western Australia in the future.
“These methods, such as in-crop harrowing, are an area that need
further investigation here in WA. There is also a lot of
development work underway in Europe into improving the efficacy
of pesticide use, so that less can be used,” Mr Riethmuller
said.
“Growers there are facing increased weed problems and rising
control costs, particularly in the production of organic foods
which have a strong market demand. Some interesting innovative
research is being done into non-chemical weed control methods.
“There is also a push in Germany and Denmark to reduce the
reliance on herbicides, stimulating research into alternatives,
cultivation treatments, and more effective spraying methods,” he
said.
“What I’ve seen in Europe will certainly assist my current work
on weeds in wide row lupins, especially in the areas of timing
of either sprays or cultural treatments.”
Mr Riethmuller attended a workshop on physical and cultural weed
control in Germany where he presented some of the latest
research and development into weed control in wide row lupins in
Western Australia.
He also visited the Application Techniques Division of the
German Federal Biological Research Centre for Agriculture and
Forestry in Braunschweig and visited research stations,
university research centres, and working farms.
He said the latest work in Europe involved detecting plants for
a physical or cultural method of control, such as gas flames,
hydraulic controlled tools or a new rotary disc target the
intra-row weeds, particularly for vegetables.
“Robotic weeders are currently very slow and expensive, but this
is an exciting area for future development,” Mr Riethmuller
said.
“One report at the workshop found the use of heavy brown Kraft
paper (200g/m2) as mulch instead of plastic for vegetables very
useful, since the plastic caused a disposal problem for the
growers.
“Another cover crop report found a crimper roller most effective
for green mulching flowering cereals (best time Zadok 55-60),
but said it was not effective on canola.
“One paper dealt with higher weed densities. It found they could
be tolerated if variably can be reduced. Peaks in weed seed set
need to be limited, which may allow higher weed densities or
lower herbicide rates.
“The Application Techniques Division had some nozzle work that
could directly assist in improving spraying application in
Western Australia.”
Mr Riethmuller said his trip had provided information that could
initate or compliment research in WA into non-chemical options
for weed control as chemical resistance increases.
“Physical methods may be useful at the early growth stage of the
weeds and with more growers using GPS and autosteer, that option
may be useful.”
Mr Riethmuller’s visit to Europe was supported by the
Grains Research and Development
Corporation and the Department of Agriculture and Food. |
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