With no known resistance to annual ryegrass in Australia, Rustler® Selective Herbicide from FMC, is an attractive addition to a grower’s toolkit in the fight against annual ryegrass.

As the industry leading propyzamide in canola, Rustler® provides an additional option for control of problematic weeds as part of an overall resistance management strategy.

Adding to its appeal is the efficacy demonstrated on other problematic grass weed species such as barley grass, silver grass and wild oats.

Using a combination of herbicides including Rustler®, problematic ryegrass has been successfully controlled in pasture on a property at Moora, in the wheatbelt region of Western Australia.

Landmark Moora agronomist, Wayne Birch, said ryegrass was an issue on the Manning farm east of Moora where the typical rotation was wheat and lupins, with a more recent introduction of a pasture phase.

The pasture is medic and clover based and will typically be grown and grazed for a year, although it can persist for longer with more favourable conditions.

“In the past we've hit the Group A’s fairly hard,” Mr Birch said.  “It is a fairly high-pressure situation and we're finding a lot of the Group A’s are breaking down in a major way.  In 2016, a particular paddock had that much ryegrass in it that Clethodim wasn't working.  We made the decision last year to try something a bit different.”

Instead of relying on Group A herbicides, Mr Birch also included the Group D Rustler® 900 WG in the mix to attempt to control ryegrass as it germinated.

“We decided to do Rustler®, which is the propyzamide active, as a pasture manipulation option.

“Propyzamide doesn't actually kill anything that is there, it will only stop things from coming up, so we did do a bit of a clethodim and some Targa (Group A).”

“It would have given a good six weeks protection.  It just allowed the clover to get away.  There is not a blade of grass.  Targa has done its job, Clethodim and obviously propyzamide to stop everything coming back."

Diuron and Broadstrike were also used to control capeweed so the end result was a very clean pasture which later in the season was able to be cut for hay.

Mr Birch said ryegrass resistance was a big issue on the property and throughout the local region and something they were trying to manage with different break crops and chemical rotations.

“Clethodim and Factor are still working at this point in time, but it is just trying to extend those shots out.  One of the reasons this has worked is because we've still got a little bit of activity with Clethodim and Factor and it is the Rustler propyzamide that has held it back.  Hopefully you might wind back the clock a little bit.”

He said the feedback from growers using Rustler had been very positive and the granular formulation had been well received.

“As far as formulation is concerned, we've had less problems since we switched to granules rather than liquids. Rustler® is my go to over most generics because you have less problems.  If we do have a problem, it is going to be with a generic.”

For compatibilities of Rustler® with other chemical products refer to the Rustler® Compatibility document on the FMC website or contact your local FMC Sales Representative.