Harvest weed seed control

In high rainfall zones there was little information surrounding how many weed seeds have been shed, left behind or thrown over the back during the harvest of high yielding crops. This project tested a range of treatments to develop harvest weed seed control options. The objective of this project was to target a 20% increase in farmers using non-chemical (or cultural) weed management tools to reduce economic losses. The project had two components: replicated small plot trials and “on farm” demonstrations. The trial sites included small replicated trial plots and large demonstration plots. These sites aimed to test different cultural (non-chemical) techniques to reduce weed seed banks. They included:

• Variety (Lancer, La Trobe, Trojan, Wedgetail)
• Time of Sowing
• Stubble harvest height (15cm and 30cm)
• Harvest weed seed destruction
• Windrow burning (harvest 15cm)
• Blanket burning (harvest as high as possible)

The results from this work for the Riverine Plains region was published in Research for the Riverine Plains, 2018 and is available via the following link:

2018 Harvest weed seed control for the southern high rainfall zone

Results and analysis from project work undertaken across the southern high rainfall zone has been published by GRDC and is available via the following link:

GRDC report into HWSC for the southern high rainfall zone