Investment

Harvest weed seed control (HWSC) systems in Australian grain crops play an important role in weed management tactics that prevent weed seeds from entering the seed bank. Chaff tramlining, and chaff lining are HWSC system that result in a concentrated distribution of the chaff within the paddock. Grain growers adopting these HWSC systems have observed increased pest pressure associated with chaff residues and there is concern about the potential risk of associated crop damage.

This project investigates the effect of HWSC chaff residues deposited in chaff lines and chaff tramlines on the diversity and abundance invertebrate pests and natural enemies in the Australia's Southern cropping region and assesses the associated crop damage.