A new HGCA guide – Managing weeds in arable rotations – brings together current thinking on weed control in one handy publication.

Launched Wednesday (9 June) at Cereals 2010, the guide incorporates the latest Weed Resistance Action Group guidelines alongside all of the HGCA’s weed control tools and advice, ADAS’s James Clarke said.

“For the first time it is saying resistance management needs to be fully integrated within good weed control decisions.

“Growers can no longer just rely on herbicides – with the reducing armoury at their disposal, the risk of them getting into water and the difficulty of getting new ones through registration – so there is an increased focus on the range of the cultural options available,” he said.

The guide quantifies their value in different situations, and looks at the impact on the seed bank in the soil, he said. “Managing the seed bank is at the heart of good weed control, so the guide makes it easier for growers to see how different management regimes affect weed populations through the rotation.”

This is brought to life using a series of grower case studies that analyse what growers are doing, and suggests changes that could help with their weed control.