Grass Weeds
Teagasc research has shown that Conservation Agriculture systems can establish crops at lower costs and with much less energy than plough based tillage. While wet soils and compaction can be an issue in Ireland’s climate, the most significant challenge is grass weed control.
There are a number of problematic grass weeds in Ireland. Wild oats, bromes, blackgrass and canary grass were prioritised by the ECT project Operational Group for specific focus. Other grass weeds such as annual meadow grass, ryegrasses and scutch are also problematic and may be looked at over the lifetime of the project.
There are many ways to control weeds such as cultural control measures and using herbicides. This project will demonstrated how to optimise non-chemical control measures in a planned Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy across a range of establishment systems, from plough based to no-till. It will also increase the industries knowledge on herbicide resistance and how to prevent it from occurring