Bayer Australia: Mateno^® Complete sets new benchmark in efficacy and flexibility for annual ryegrass control

With the number one weed challenge of annual ryegrass in his sights every season, NSW grower Andy Forbes needs to manage the issue early and well.

Farming at Parkes, his 650-hectare property ‘The Gums’ is 100 per cent cropping, with a rotation of barley, wheat and canola. Key to managing annual ryegrass in the cropping program is efficiency and efficacy.

(Left to right) Peter Yelland (PY Agronomy) and Andy Forbes inspect a wheat crop on ‘The Gums’.

“Some paddocks are worse than others, and as a lot of farmers know, if you let weeds go at the start, you've got a problem in yield loss and a potential problem the next season throughout all the crops; canola, barley and wheat,” he says.

“You only get one go at controlling annual ryegrass from the start of the season with a pre- emergent spray. Once the crop is away, it's just near impossible.”

It’s a sentiment echoed by Andrew’s agronomist, Peter Yelland from PY Agronomy, who says in terms of winter weeds, annual ryegrass would be the number one threat locally to grower profit.

“It's becoming increasingly difficult to control; the ability of annual ryegrass to develop resistance so quickly to so many chemistries, means we have identified it as being a very challenging species, and it probably has the potential to be the most detrimental to broadacre winter cropping,” Peter explains.

In recent seasons, Sakura^® from Bayer has been the number one pre-emergent for controlling annual ryegrass in wheat for Peter and his clients, so when the opportunity came to trial Mateno^® Complete, a new herbicide from Bayer to control a broad spectrum of grass and broadleaf weeds, Peter took it with both hands. He conducted a broadacre trial in conjunction with Andy on ‘The Gums’, as well as establishing some small plot trials in the district.

“When new products come onto the market, we try and access them at least two years prior to release if possible, so our growers can get a good look at them,” he says.

“We can then understand their strengths and weaknesses and understand how to better use these products straight away when they do come to market.”

Peter says the 2021 season was close to perfect, with the district receiving consistent rain without being overly wet.

“In terms of soil moisture, it's been perfect conditions for these types of chemistries to work, and we've seen that with Mateno Complete,” he observes.

“A big thing we've seen with Mateno Complete is the good broadleaf control we're getting, as well as the length of control we're getting on annual ryegrass.”

From Andy’s perspective, he found his first experience handling Mateno Complete to be a good one, with the product being easy to mix and flowing through the sprayer well. It was trialed in a paddock which had shown heavy annual ryegrass pressure, making it a good test for the product.

“We had great annual ryegrass control straight up, it really took hold of the ryegrass in that area, which had been shocking in some parts,” Andy says.

“Mateno Complete just seems to be working really well all the way through, so we’re very happy with the way it's worked.”

Mateno Complete has good flexibility on the label, being registered in wheat for an early post emergence (EPE) use pattern, and in both wheat and barley Mateno Complete can be used in an IBS (incorporated by sowing) use pattern.

The product was applied IBS into wheat with a knife point-press wheel system on ‘The Gums’, although Peter Yelland sees the EPE option as also being attractive for his growers.

“We've found in the past that products like Sakura, for example, require a moist environment to work, or they need a certain amount of rainfall to activate,” he explains.

“If we are in a dry sowing situation, which does happen fairly commonly, the Mateno Complete label means we're not bound to actually making that investment until we can see some rain coming and knowing that we've got that early post-emergent option up our sleeve.

“Growers making that kind of investment will be quite comfortable to have that option in the toolbox to control their ryegrass.”

The ability to use Mateno Complete on disc seeded wheat will also be a positive for growers in the Parkes district, Peter points out, as will the addition of barley for IBS application.

“A pretty common rotation in this environment is wheat-canola-barley, and in terms of weed control, barley is a weak link in the system,” he says.

“So, in the extreme cases, we'll probably be positioning Mateno Complete into that barley phase to primarily control annual ryegrass.”
 
Importantly, Peter reports excellent crop safety with Mateno Complete, even in the stern test provided by the 2021 season.

“If we're going to see crop safety issues, it would have been this year because of the constant and consistent wetness of the soil,” he says.

“We're very confident that the crop safety from Mateno Complete looks as solid as any other option that we have available to us, if not superior.”