Abstract

The widespread evolution of multiple herbicide resistance in the most serious annual weeds infesting Australian cropping fields has forced the development of alternative, non-chemical weed control strategies, especially new techniques at grain harvest. Harvest weed seed control (HWSC) systems target weed seed during commercial grain harvest operations and act to minimize fresh seed inputs to the seedbank. These systems exploit two key biological weaknesses of targeted annual weed species: seed retention at maturity and a short-lived seedbank. HWSC systems, including chaff carts, narrow windrow burning, bale direct, and the Harrington Seed Destructor, target the weed seed bearing chaff material during commercial grain harvest. The destruction of these weed seeds at or after grain harvest facilitates weed seedbank decline, and when combined with conventional herbicide use, can drive weed populations to very low levels. Very low weed populations are key to sustainability of weed control practices. Here we introduce HWSC as a new paradigm for global agriculture and discuss how these techniques have aided Australian grain cropping and their potential utility in global agriculture.

Highlights

  • BioOne sees sustainable scholarly publishing as an inherently collaborative enterprise connecting authors, nonprofit publishers, academic institutions, research libraries, and research funders in the common goal of maximizing access to critical research

  • The widespread evolution of multiple herbicide resistance in the most serious annual weeds infesting Australian cropping fields has forced the development of alternative, non-chemical weed control strategies, especially new techniques at grain harvest

  • Nosotros introducimos Harvest weed seed control (HWSC) como un nuevo paradigma para la agricultura global y discutimos como estas tecnicas han ayudado a la produccion australiana de granos y su utilidad potencial en la agricultura global

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Summary

Weed species

Reference (Gill 1996) (Matthews et al 1996) (Walsh and Powles 2007) (Walsh and Powles 2007) (Shirtliffe and Entz 2005) (Walsh and Powles 2007) (Walsh and Newman 2007) (Walsh and Newman 2007) (Walsh et al 2012) (Walsh et al 2012) (Walsh et al 2012) (Walsh et al 2012). In field crops a large proportion (up to 80%) of total annual ryegrass seed production can be collected during a typical commercial grain harvest (Walsh and Powles 2007). These weed seeds enter the front of the grain harvester, are processed, and exit the grain harvester in the chaff fraction. Chaff material is a valuable livestock feed source and can be grazed in-situ or, in some instances, collected for use in feed-lots This necessity for post-harvest management of chaff material has limited the Australian adoption of chaff cart collection systems despite their recognized efficacy in the management of major herbicide-resistant weed problems. The weed seed targeting efficacy of chaff cart collection systems (Walsh and Powles 2007) maintained the continuing interest in the development of additional HWSC systems

HWSC Systems
Driving Weed Populations to Very Low Densities
Seed retention
The Global Potential for HWSC Systems
Preserving Weed Control Resources
Findings
Literature Cited

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