Feathertop Rhodes Grass

Facilitating adoption of integrated weed management strategies for Feathertop Rhodes grass in the northern region, Program 2 (southern NSW)

Project Partners: GRDC, NSWDPI
Project Location: FarmLink region

Feathertop Rhodes grass is a highly aggressive weed that, despite being a focus of several research efforts, is continuing to increase in incidence and severity in northern farming systems. The recent confirmation of resistance to glyphosate also highlights the need to manage the weed with an integrated systems approach. In the winter cropping areas of southern NSW, research is required to develop a locally adapted FRG IWM plan for the prevailing farming system.
This will need to address:

  • Differences in the value of residual herbicides (based on the presence of sandy, acidic, low OC soils, lower and winter dominant rainfall and crop choice) taking into account possible product registration opportunities

  • Differences in the effectiveness of cultivation (based on soil type)

  • Use of Site-Specific Weed Management

  • Opportunities for management in the pasture phase (e.g. chemical options and with grazing as a first step in a double knock) and

  • The impact of livestock on both spread and/or control of the weed (e.g. livestock field preference and Feathertop Rhodes Grass regrowth).

Expected outputs: By June 2022, a locally developed IWM strategy for management of FRG available for, and communicated to, growers and advisers in southern New South Wales.

  • The IWM strategy should be based on locally validated scientific evidence relevant to the prevailing climate and farming system but guided by established principles.

  • IWM strategy should include the efficacy and economics of multiple control tactics

Extension of this work to growers in southern NSW is a key component of this procurement.