Collaboration cements national focus of the Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative

Date:08-08-2013

The Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative’s (AHRI) national focus has been consolidated with Charles Sturt University (CSU) and the Graham Centre officially partnering the internationally recognised research group.

The partnership is supported by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), which provides significant ongoing funding to AHRI to combat herbicide resistance.

AHRI director and Winthrop Professor, Stephen Powles, said the national benefits of the new AHRI-CSU collaboration would flow through information exchange and opportunities for collaborative projects aimed at tackling herbicide resistance issues.

“I am really pleased that CSU is now involved within AHRI,” he said.

“As I have regularly been visiting CSU, I know that there are very good reasons for the inclusion of CSU within AHRI and I will help ensure that this is a fruitful arrangement for all.

“Crop weeds and herbicide resistance know no borders and a national effort is required.”

AHRI will work closely with CSU’s herbicide resistance scientist John Broster, who is based at the Graham Centre Weed Research Group, CSU, in Wagga Wagga, NSW.

Mr Broster manages the CSU Herbicide Resistance Testing Service, one of only a few resistance testing services in Australia.

He will work with AHRI researcher Michael Walsh on evaluating harvest weed seed control techniques applicable in NSW and Victoria.

“We will gather data in southern NSW to show that the techniques used in Western Australia for harvest weed seed control are also successful in eastern Australia,” Mr Broster said.

“Ultimately we want to increase the rate of adoption of these technologies amongst growers in eastern Australia.”

GRDC plant health technologies manager Ken Young said the GRDC’s support of the new AHRI-CSU alliance was part of its commitment to long-term research into herbicide resistance.

“The GRDC is currently investing $8.2 million a year in weed management research,” Dr Young said.

“A major component of this is our ongoing support for AHRI to tackle herbicide resistance.”

CSU joins the University of Melbourne, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Queensland (DAFFQ, Toowoomba) and Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia (DAFWA) as formal AHRI partner organisations.