New research in Australia targets wild radish

What are the most effective sequences of in-crop herbicides that growers can use to control wild radish, while helping to delay the onset of herbicide resistance?

Answers to this question will be investigated under new research in the Northern Agricultural Region (NAR) funded by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).

The GRDC is supporting the trial work after the Geraldton Port Zone’s recently established Regional Cropping Solutions Network (RCSN) identified wild radish as the major priority for funding in 2012.

With wild radish a priority issue for all WA growers, the GRDC plans to make further research investments to help them manage the problematic weed.

The NAR wild radish research project will be a collaborative effort involving a number of researchers and farm advisers.

Consultants from agricultural consultancy Planfarm and the Department of Agriculture of Food’s (DAFWA) Peter Newman will coordinate the research, while the Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative will provide advice.

Planfarm agronomist and consultant Andrew Sandison said growers were facing significantly higher wild radish control costs due to herbicide resistance in many major herbicide groups.

"Having viable options for wild radish control in cereal cropping systems in the NAR is vital to maintaining the financial viability of growers in the region,” he said.

Mr Sandison said that despite the difficulty in controlling wild radish in-crop, there was anecdotal evidence suggesting that older registered chemicals, if used at the right time, might provide adequate control if used in sequence with newer registered chemicals such as pyrosulfotole (for example, Velocity®) and pyraflufen (for example, Ecopar®).

"The new research project will test the effect of these herbicide sequences on wild radish at different sites in the NAR,” he said.

Mr Sandison said the use of older chemicals, in the correct sequence and mixes with newer herbicides, would also reduce growers’ reliance on newer, more expensive herbicides and lessen the risk of resistance occurring.

"Some growers are using as many as four applications of the same herbicide in two years, which could lead to these newer chemical groups developing resistance much earlier than they should,” he said.

Mr Sandison said the trial sites would be designed and selected by local agronomists, who would choose farmer paddocks containing wild radish populations with high levels of resistance.

"About four trials on different farms will take place, with a wide range of herbicide treatments tested in the 2012 season,” he said.

The radish research in the NAR is one of a number of projects which will be funded by the GRDC as a result of its new Rural Cropping Solutions (RCS) initiative.

The RCS initiative aims to help speed up the time it takes for new varieties, practices and technologies to be adopted by growers, ultimately increasing the profitability of the Australian grains industry.

RCSNs each comprise about 12 representatives including a GRDC western panellist, farmers, and representatives from agribusiness and research and development organisations.

They are located in the Kwinana west, Kwinana east, Albany, Esperance and Geraldton port zones.