AGRICULTURE NEWS - CropLife SA has released an emergency eradication plan for the invasive weed Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri), which can result in almost total crop failure in maize.
Prof Charlie Reinhardt, project leader at the South African Herbicide Resistance Initiative, said the weed was resistant to glyphosate.
“Local research has shown that it is also resistant to two other groups of herbicides. This makes it very difficult to control with normal agricultural practices that rely on herbicides for weed management.”
He noted that Palmer amaranth had a rapid growth rate of more than 6cm a day and the ability to accumulate large biomass quickly, making it an extremely competitive weed.
Infestation has resulted in documented yield losses of between 11% and 91% in maize, 11% and 59% in cotton, and 17% and 79% in soya bean, depending on the level of infestation.
Read the full article here on the Caxton publication, Farmer's Weekly.
