Chemicals

Many primary producers in Western Australia rely on chemicals to protect their agricultural enterprises from pests, weeds and diseases. Chemicals provide many benefits to primary production but must be used responsibly to minimise the adverse effects associated with their use.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development in conjunction with other state departments and federal authorities regulates the use of agricultural and veterinary chemicals to minimise risks to human health, the environment, animal welfare and trade.

Details about agricultural and veterinary chemical products registered for use in Western Australia can be sourced through the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority.

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Articles

Factors affecting herbicide performance

19 January 2011

Herbicide performance can vary greatly depending on a number of factors. These can include compatibility of herbicides, water quality, sprayer decontamination and controlling stressed weeds.
Residual herbicides - carryover and behaviour in dry conditions

8 June 2018

The term 'residual' applies to a number of herbicides that have a long lasting activity in the soil. These herbicides are often applied directly to the soil prior to planting crops, pre-emergent.
Seed dressing and in-furrow fungicides for cereals in Western Australia

20 November 2013

Seed dressing and in-furrow fungicides contain active ingredients for the control or suppression of seed-borne diseases, some fungal foliar diseases and some fungal root rots in cereal crops.
Crop diseases: forecasts and management

11 December 2013

Information is provided here to assist management of diseases and viruses that occur in broadacre crops grown in Western Australia - cereals (wheat, barley, oats and triticale), pulses (field pea,
Windmill grass

23 May 2012

Windmill grass (Chloris truncata) is a native species and is the tenth most common summer weed species in the Western Australian wheatbelt.
Annual ryegrass

6 October 2011

Annual ryegrass (Lolium rigidum) is one of the most serious and costly weeds of annual winter cropping systems in southern Australia.
Managing yellow spot and septoria nodorum blotch in wheat

5 December 2013

Leaf spot diseases affecting wheat in Western Australia are septoria nodorum blotch, yellow spot and septoria tritici blotch.
Doublegee

3 February 2011

Doublegee or spiny emex is a significant weed in Western Australia. It is a vigorous annual herb with a strong tap root and a long, fleshy, hairless stem.
Herbicide resistance

31 January 2011

Herbicide resistance is the inherited ability of an individual plant to survive a herbicide application that would kill a normal population of the same species.
Smut and bunt diseases of cereal - biology, identification and management

13 December 2012

Cereal smut and bunt diseases are caused by fungi which parasitise the host plant and produce masses of soot-like spores in the leaves, grains or ears.