Yes, no, maybe – getting value from herbicide resistance testing

The detection of herbicide resistant weed populations generally occurs in the field as a consequence of the failure of a herbicide treatment that was previously effective. If resistance can be confirmed earlier, growers may be able to better anticipate the causes of herbicide failure and have the opportunity to change their weed management for effective control and to reduce the spread of resistance (Perez et al, 2021).

Herbicide resistance testing services allow growers and their agronomy advisers to submit weed seed samples and confirm the resistance status of the sampled population to a range of herbicides. The economic value to the grower from knowing the resistance (or susceptibility) status of weed populations to a range of herbicides is the ability to make a better informed choice of what cost-effective herbicide to use next.

Testing services have been available for over 30 years however there is industry concern that testing services are underutilized. In this study we address the following research questions: i) what are the perceived benefits, extent and reasons for growers and agronomist using herbicide resistance testing? ii) do growers and agronomists correctly assess the status of weed resistance status?