As herbicide-resistant weeds become more common across the country, researchers and growers are looking for other ways to control weeds.
In Colorado, they’re looking to techniques and technology developed in Australia, which has significant issues with herbicide-resistant weeds.
Known as harvest weed-seed control, these IPM-friendly methods are designed to destroy or remove weed seeds during harvest to prevent them from raining down onto the soil and replenishing the weed seed bank. In Colorado wheat, weed species of concern are winter annual grasses that share the grain’s growing cycle, like jointed goatgrass, feral rye and downy brome.
“In harvest weed-seed control, the objective is to prevent those seed-bank increases,” explained Colorado State University doctoral candidate Neeta Soni. “There are a number of ways to do it, and we’re investigating to see if they could be adopted in Colorado.”
