Australia
May 3, 2013
Last year’s results on annual ryegrass with Sakura® in wheat, along with Roundup Ready® canola were an impressive addition to the ‘weed control toolbox’ for Kieran Barrett. Farming 4,700 ha at Ned's Corner, Munglinup, Kieran said annual ryegrass was starting to get away from them when they had a rotation of canola followed by wheat and then barley.
It was the barley that posed the ‘weak link’ in the rotation with the second year of cereals allowing the biggest grass weed build up. Another reason for reducing the area sown to barley has been powdery mildew pressure.
Kieran has more recently shortened the rotation to canola followed by either wheat or barley, with about two thirds of the cereal area sown to wheat and the other third to barley.
It’s a change that appears to be working well, no doubt thanks to the development of these new technologies.
The Barrett’s farm is about 15 km from the south coast and consists of mainly gravelly loam soil types. They have cattle and crop about 4,200 ha with the split between canola and cereals roughly 50/50.
Last year about 80 percent of the wheat area was sown to Mace. Scout is the new variety being bulked up.
At this stage the main canola variety is the triazine tolerant Crusher with a smaller sowing in 2012 to Hyola 404 RR.
“In 2011 we trialled a container of Sakura and I put it over canola stubble and compared that against 2.5 L/ha of trifluralin. The results were massive. It wasn’t just better grass and toad rush control, but also wheat yield at the end with about a 300 kg/ha lift in yield.
“Last year about two thirds of the wheat had Sakura and rest was 2.5 L/ha trifluralin. Trifluralin is still working but at about 60 to 70 percent control, the weed numbers can’t be too high, so paddock selection is critical.
“Crusher has been a good variety for us and 2.2 L/ha atrazine applied in two sprays followed by 500 mL/ha of clethodim for the grasses has done the job until now.
“But I wanted to give the clethodim a break so we’re introducing RR canola into the system to help keep the weeds in check.”
“We’ve done some windrowing of canola and I’m quite prepared to burn canola rows on a hot day and let it creep through the paddock. This in turn helps control any potentially resistant survivors.
“The majority of the canola paddocks however have the crop residue spread out at harvest, the cattle go through and further break it up. We like to leave a bit of cover there and the Sakura seemed to handle it quite well.
“Three years ago we burnt a wheat paddock but that left it pretty prone to the wind and I wouldn’t want to do that again.”
Kieran said another tactic he employs to manage all weeds is a pre-sowing double knockdown of glyphosate followed within a fortnight by a full rate of paraquat mixed with the appropriate pre-emergent.
“With the Sakura we were able to push the second knockdown spray out to a three day interval before the seeder came in which gave us a bit of flexibility, unlike the trifluralin which had to be sprayed ideally just in front.
“It added a bit more flexibility to the seeding program and made my job as the spray operator a bit easier.”
Munglinup farmer Kieran Barrett shows Esperance based Bayer Area Manager, Reece Hunt, his Sakura result. He said the month of June close to the south coast can get very wet and the ability of Sakura to persist and control subsequent germinations of annual ryegrass and toad rush was a standout.
Sakura® is a Registered Trademark of Kumiai Chemical Industry Co, Ltd.
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care, agriculture and high-tech materials. This year the company is celebrating 150 years of Bayer – consistent with its mission “Bayer: Science For A Better Life”. Bayer CropScience, the subgroup of Bayer AG responsible for the agricultural business, has annual sales of EUR 8,383 million (2012) and is one of the world’s leading innovative crop science companies in the areas of seeds, crop protection and non-agricultural pest control. The company offers an outstanding range of products including high value seeds, innovative crop protection solutions based on chemical and biological modes of action as well as an extensive service backup for modern, sustainable agriculture. In the area of non-agricultural applications, Bayer CropScience has a broad portfolio of products and services to control pests from home and garden to forestry applications. The company has a global workforce of 20,800 and is represented in more than 120 countries.
Bayer and its employees contribute thousands of dollars annually to a variety of organisations including Mission Australia and Aussie Helpers. Mission Australia is a community service organization that assists thousands of disadvantaged Australians every year to help them get back on their feet. Aussie Helpers is a charity that helps fight poverty in rural communities across Australia.
The Bayer CropScience Australian head office is located in Melbourne. This and further news is available at: www.bayercropscience.com.au
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