Philip Meadley of Grange Farm, East Yorkshire farms 600 acres. For the first time in a number of years, he will be planting 90-acres of spring crops as one of the approaches to tackle the resistant black-grass on his farm.

In 2013, ADAS tested his black-grass for herbicide resistance; the tests were funded by BASF as part of the company’s research into the growing spread of resistance in the country’s populations.

The weeds on his farm showed three different – and commonly encountered – types of resistance, Enhanced Metabolism Resistance (EMR), ACCase target site resistance (ACCase-TSR) and ALS target site resistance (ALS-TSR).

“You need to know what type of resistance you’re dealing with, and its severity if you are going to tackle this weed properly,” explains Louis Wells, BASF’s Yorkshire Agronomy Manager.

“Philip Meadley’s results show that resistance levels are still manageable on his farm, unlike many growers further south; so the very pro-active changes he is making to tackle the problem, should help in preventing black-grass becoming a bigger headache for him.”

EMR, or non-target site resistance, is the most common resistance found in black-grass and this can affect all herbicides.

“EMR is normally a partial resistance and increases slowly. Target site, or ACCase resistance affects the herbicide group known as ‘fop, dims and den’ herbicides and results in very poor control and increases rapidly in a black-grass populations. It is the same for the ALS herbicides such as Atlantis and Broadway products.”

Resistance test results are recorded by severity, where ‘S’ signifies that the black-grass is still susceptible to the herbicide and should lead to effective control. Whilst ‘R’ or ‘RR’ indicates that there is some level of resistance and ‘RRR’ means that there is significant resistance which will cause poor control from the herbicide.”

The resistance types on Mr Meadley’s farm are ALS S, ACCAse RR and EMR RR.

“The results are heartening and mean that there is still some opportunity for control from the main autumn herbicides if used along with using cultural control measures such as implementing stale seedbeds, late sowing and direct drilling,” Mr Wells added. “I would also recommend a pre-emergence application of Avadex followed by a flufenacet + pendimethalin-based product like Crystal + DFF.”

Philip Meadley said that he has used a number of different recommended measures to combat black-grass. “I’m now drilling wheat much later, on around the 28th of October, which has resulted in much less emerging black-grass. I have also completely dropped winter barley from the rotation, because it wasn’t possible to achieve sufficient levels of black-grass control.”

Mr Meadley had intended to take the extreme measure of spraying off any black-grass in the standing crop with glyphosate, but it was too late in the season to prevent seed return from flowering black-grass, “but I am quite prepared to this next season if I need to,” he said.

This “zero tolerance” practice, advocated by BASF, has been widely adopted in parts of the UK such as East Anglia, where the resistant black-grass situation is “dire” according to Louis Wells.

Going forward, Mr Meadley’s strategy will be to increase his spring cropping area further still. “In the past we had no spring crops at all; now we will have 15% of the area in spring wheat and rising.” He has also trialled cover crops and plans to drill some ahead of cereals in the rotation. “I’m also trialling direct drilling of both wheat and rape to determine the impact of different cultivations on levels of control in my farm situation.”

For further comment and information please contact:

Mike Thurogood Tel: 0161 488 5805 Email: michael.thurogood@basf.com

Louis Wells Tel 07770 846889 Email: louis.wells@basf.com

Jane Craigie, Tel 01466 780078 Email: jane@janecraigie.com

Crystal is registered trademarks of BASF. Atlantis is a registered trademark of Bayer. Avadex is a registered trademark of Gowan. Broadway Star and Sunrise are registered trademark of Dow AgroSciences. Atlantis contains iodosulfuron-methyl-sodium + mesosulfuron-methyl. Broadway Star contains florasulam + pyroxsulam. Broadway Sunrise contains pendimethalin + pyroxsulam. Crystal contains flufenacet and pendimethalin. Liberator contains flufenacet + diflufenican. Avadex contains w/w tri-allate. Use plant protection products safely. Always read the label and product information before use. For further product information including warning phrases and symbols refer to www.agricentre.basf.co.uk

CropTec 2015:

BASF are this year’s sponsors of our Crop Protection seminar and will also be holding a business breakfast meeting each day before the event. As well a a presentation from BASF, there will also be a presentation by Mr Sebastien Mallet from the leading international agricultural market intelligence company Offre et Demande Agricole (ODA). Topics covered will include: UK crop out-turn prices, global out-turns, planting predictions for 2016 and the possible impact on prices and opportunities for the 2016 season.

To encourage knowledge exchange among the British farming community further, this year’s event is FREE for farmers to attend. You MUST pre-register online to ensure you receive your free place.

General pre-registered admission: £12, all visitors will charged £15 on the gate on the day of the event.