SLEDGE LONG FALLOW HERBICIDE DEMONSTRATION. Tabbita NSW, 2016 INDEPENDENT AGRONOMY ADVICE + CUTTING EDGE RESEARCH

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1 SLEDGE LONG FALLOW HERBICIDE DEMONSTRATION Tabbita NSW, 2016 INDEPENDENT AGRONOMY ADVICE + CUTTING EDGE RESEARCH

2 Sledge fallow weed control demonstration KEY POINTS * Long Fallow is a major part of the western cropping system to manage risk as well as clean up weedy paddocks and break from cereal crops. * There is a heavy reliance on hormone based herbicides to assist Roundup in controlling broadleaf weeds in fallows. These herbicides may build up in the soil or accumulate on stubble and may cause problems for following sensitive crops such as canola and legumes. * Group G herbicides provide a good alternative to group I herbicides as spikes to roundup to assist in controlling hard to kill broadleaf weeds, and lower the risk associated with drift onto sensitive crops. * Using group G herbicides also prevent the issues of hormones antagonising the efficacy of glyphosate, thus reducing the risk of the development of resistance in both grass and broadleaf weeds (eg: ryegrass and sowthistle). * Sledge is a new group G herbicide from Sipcam (registration is pending for Sledge ), that will provide an alternate knockdown option to 2,4-D in fallows. BACKGROUND Maintaining a clean paddock during a long fallow can be challenging for farmers with the variety of weeds that persist due to no competition. Long fallow puts a heavy strain on glyphosate, as it is the most commonly used herbicide during a long fallow, usually applied at least 6 times during the fallow period. The risk of drifting hormone based herbicides onto sensitive crops is increasing with a large number of permanent plantings being developed in recent years along with increasing areas of cotton plantings every year. Farmers and consultants are looking for alternative products to use and lower the risk of causing damage to nearby sensitive crops. Sledge (25 g/l paraflufen-ethyl) is a new soon to be released group G herbicide from Sipcam, which could be a useful tool for farmers to use as a spike to glyphosate, to control hard to kill broadleaf weeds. TRIAL DETAILS A demonstration was established on the 7th of September 2016 in a long fallow paddock at the Landmark trial site on Peter Tyson s farm near Tabbita, in conjunction with Sipcam. The aim of the demonstration was to evaluate the efficacy of various group G herbicides in combination with roundup on key weeds found in long fallow paddocks in the western cropping region. The trial consisted of 13 treatments as shown in table 1. The herbicide treatments were applied on the 7 th of September at 3pm, with 80L/ha water rate and with mini drift A1 02 nozzles. The environmental conditions at the time of spraying were 20 o C temperature, 46% relative humidity, 9 km/h winds and 40% cloud cover. The weeds in the paddock were quite large and consisted of annual ryegrass and black oats at head emergence, flowering milk thistle and capeweed, rosette stage skeleton weed, seedling fleabane and podding turnip weed. 2

3 As this was a demonstration trial, treatments were not replicated and plots were 12m x 150m. Observations were carried out throughout the trial, and consisted of a visual assessment of the percentage weed control of the key weed species at approximately 7 and 28 days after treatment (DAT).. A summary of these results is shown in tables 2 and 3 in the results section. An aerial photograph of the site, 10 days after application, is shown in figure 1, with a visual representation of the weed control for each treatment shown from figures 2 to 14. Table 1: Treatment and product list for the Sledge herbicide demonstration Treatment Treatment No. 1 Untreated (for comparison) 2 50ml Sledge + 1.2L Raze + 1% Hasten 3 100ml Sledge + 1.2L Raze + 1% Hasten 4 200ml Ecopar +1.2L Raze + 1% Hasten 5 100ml Ecopar + 1.2L Raze + 1% Hasten 6 40ml Hammer + 1.2L Raze + 1% Hasten 7 75ml Goal + 1.2L Raze + 1% Hasten 8 17g Sharpen + 1.2L Raze + 1% Hasten 9 30g Valor + 1.2L Raze + 1% Hasten L Raze L Raze + 800ml LV Ester L Raze L Raze + 800ml Pyresta Xtreme Products Ecopar 20 g/l pyraflufen-ethyl Goal 240 g/l Oxyfluorfen Hammer 400 g/l Carfentrazone-ethyl LV Ester g/L 2, 4-D Pyresta Xtreme 2.1g/L pyraflufen-ethyl + 600g/L 2, 4-D Raze 510 g/l Glyphosate Sharpen 700g/kg Saflufenacil Sledge 25 g/l paraflufen-ethyl Valor 500g/kg Flumioxazin Hasten Spray Adjuvent Figure 1: Aerial photograph of the trial site, taken 16 th September 2016 (treatment 1 far left). Treatment 1 Treatment 13 3

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The paddock chosen for this trial has been in a ley phase for the last two years, without any weed control since during the previous wheat crop 3 years ago. This knockdown demonstration was designed to control the weeds present and stop any seed set from these weeds, to allow moisture conservation for the preceding crop next year. The season has been characterised by one of the wettest winter and spring periods on record. This has helped maintain cool to mild conditions through much of the growing season. Weeds have thrived in these conditions, however growth and development of many of the key weeds has been slower than normal due to the lack of solar radiation and thermal exposure. The results of the trial showed some differences in levels of control between key broadleaf weeds. The higher rates of both Ecopar and Sledge (treatments 3 and 4) proved to provide greater levels of control in comparison to where they were used at lower rates. Treatments containing group I herbicides (treatments 11 and 13) were the only ones that controlled fleabane. Some yellowing of fleabane was noted 7 DAT in some of the treatments, however the fleabane was able to grow through this. This shows the importance of adding a hormone to the tank mix when controlling small fleabane. Capeweed was not spread uniformly through the trial site, so was not found in each plot. The two rates of Sledge both performed well on this weed, with the higher rate gaining complete control. The results on black oats show it was easily controlled with glyphosate (Raze ) and none of the mixing partners influenced the way glyphosate performed on the black oats. Ryegrass on this trial site was not completely controlled with any of the treatments. The 2L/ha of Raze treatment performed best on the ryegrass, but still only achieved a 60% kill, showing the ryegrass present has some tolerance to glyphosate. The mixing partners added to the Raze, in all the treatments, showed to have little activity on skeleton weed. The best performing treatment on skeleton weed was 2L/ha of Raze, however it only achieved 60% control. Turnip weed was the easiest controlled broadleaf weed in the trial. All treatments gained total control of this weed, except the 50ml/ha of Sledge which achieved 90% control. Table 2: Percent weed control 7 Days After Treatment (DAT). Treatment Ryegrass Turnip Sowthistle Black oat Fleabane Capeweed Skeleton weed 1 Untreated 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 2 1.2L Raze + 50ml Sledge 40% 60% 60% 80% 50% 70% 20% 3 1.2L Raze + 100ml Sledge 40% 60% 80% 80% 60% 80% 40% 4 1.2L Raze + 200ml Ecopar 40% 60% 50% 80% 70% 50% 30% 5 1.2L Raze + 100ml Ecopar 40% 60% 60% 90% 30% 40% 30% 6 1.2L Raze + 40ml Hammer 40% 50% 50% 60% 40% 20% 50% 7 1.2L Raze + 75ml Goal 40% 50% 50% 80% 60% 50% 8 1.2L Raze + 17g Sharpen 50% 40% 90% 60% 50% 30% 9 1.2L Raze + 30g Valor 40% 40% 80% 80% 40% 50% L Raze 40% 30% 40% 80% 40% 10% L Raze + 800ml lv ester % 40% 70% 80% 70% 60% 40% 12 2L Raze 50% 60% 70% 90% 70% 70% L Raze + 800ml Pyresta Xtreme 40% 50% 70% 80% 70% 30% 4

5 Table 3: Percent weed control 28 Days After Treatment (DAT). Treatment Ryegrass Turnip Sowthistle Black oat Fleabane Capeweed Skeleton weed 1 Untreated 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 2 1.2L Raze + 50ml Sledge 40% 90% 80% 100% 0% 90% 40% 3 1.2L Raze + 100ml Sledge 40% 100% 90% 100% 0% 100% 40% 4 1.2L Raze + 200ml Ecopar 40% 100% 90% 100% 0% 40% 5 1.2L Raze + 100ml Ecopar 40% 100% 100% 100% 0% 100% 40% 6 1.2L Raze + 40ml Hammer 40% 100% 80% 100% 0% 40% 7 1.2L Raze + 75ml Goal 40% 100% 60% 100% 0% 40% 8 1.2L Raze + 17g Sharpen 40% 100% 80% 100% 0% 40% 9 1.2L Raze + 30g Valor 40% 100% 100% 100% 0% 40% L Raze 40% 100% 80% 100% 0% 100% 40% L Raze + 800ml lv ester % 100% 80% 100% 100% 60% 20% 12 2L Raze 60% 100% 100% 100% 0% 60% L Raze + 800ml Pyresta Xtreme 40% 100% 100% 100% 100% 20% Figure 2: Treatment 1 - Untreated, weed control 16 th September (left) and 27 th Figure 3: Treatment 2-50ml Sledge + 1.2L Raze, weed control 16 th September (left) and 27 th 5

6 Figure 4: Treatment 3-100ml Sledge + 1.2L Raze, weed control 16 th September (left) and 27 th Figure 5: Treatment 4-200ml Ecopar +1.2L Raze, weed control 16 th September (left) and 27 th Figure 6: Treatment 5-100ml Ecopar + 1.2L Raze, weed control 16 th September (left) and 27 th 6

7 Figure 7: Treatment 6-40ml Hammer + 1.2L Raze, weed control 16 th September (left) and 27 th Figure 8: Treatment 7-75ml Goal + 1.2L Raze, weed control 16 th September (left) and 27 th Figure 9: Treatment 8-17g Sharpen + 1.2L Raze, weed control 16 th September (left) and 27 th 7

8 Figure 10: Treatment 9-30g Valor + 1.2L Raze, weed control 16 th September (left) and 27 th Figure 11: Treatment L Raze, weed control 16 th September (left) and 27 th September (right) Figure 12: Treatment L Raze + 800ml LV Ester 680, 16 th September (left) and 27 th September (right) 8

9 Figure 13: Treatment 12-2L Raze, 16 th September (left) and 27 th Figure 14: Treatment L Raze + 800ml Pyresta Xtreme, 16 th September (left) and 27 th ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This trial was a collaboration between Ag Grow Agronomy and Research and Sipcam. Ag Grow Agronomy and Research would like to thank Peter Tyson and Landmark Griffith for allowing us to use their site for the demonstration trial. Further contacts Barry Haskins Ag Grow Agronomist barry@aggrowagronomy.com.au Albert Gorman Ag Grow Agronomist albert@aggrowagronomy.com.au Rachael Whitworth Ag Grow Research Manager rachael@aggrowagronomy.com.au Scott Golding NSW (south) Sales Manager, Sipcam sgolding@sipcam.com.au 9