Director of Bayer strengthens research partnership with Embrapa on weeds

Bayer's global director, German Harry Strek, paid a visit to the Research Unit in Pelotas to strengthen the existing partnership between the two institutions when developing the project that deals with the resistance of weeds to herbicides under the leadership of researcher Décio Karam, from Embrapa Milho e Sorgo (Sete Lagoas, MG), who was also present at the meeting. The work, which will last five years, will reach the fourth year of study in 2022, involving nine locations in the country, and in the State of Rio Grande do Sul there is also an experimentation of this proposal at Embrapa Trigo, in Passo Fundo, with the collaboration of Embrapa Pecuária South, in Bagé.

This study develops strategies for crop rotation programs and evaluates whether these strategies used, and/or others that the Company could suggest, favor the development of herbicide-resistant weeds. “Here at the Terras Baixas Experimental Station (ETB), we use soybean succession in the summer, which is a mandatory point of the Project; and in winter, we adopted a pasture, the BRS Ponteio, with beef animals in partnership with Embrapa Pecuária Sul, where in the first year Brangus animals were used, and in the second and third years Charolais calves. This year, we are evaluating which breed of animals will be used by the Project team”, said the Station’s technical coordinator and project member, André Andres. The work involves researchers Giovani Theisen, Germani Concenço and Jorge Schafhauser and the Bagé Unit, researcher Danilo Sant’Anna. The meeting took place on the ETB premises. 

“This Project has demonstrated that regarding weeds, depending on the strategy when using just one chemical tool, resistant weeds emerge”, he noted. He also highlighted that the research recorded the animals' weight gain in winter, converting live weight gains into soybeans, that is, a production of 31 bags, in a period of 98 days of animal grazing. “Weight gains above 400 kg of live weight/ha”, he said.

Researcher Décio Karam commented that this is the strategy that is of great importance for the Project because there are other rotations in the center of the country that involve soybeans, corn, cotton, wheat among other crops, but all of them still need to demonstrate results, to be published in future technical documents, the cost of the product generated (soy or livestock), that is, the producer will adopt the technology if it generates a positive financial result. “We need to convince rural producers through their pockets, where they are most sensitive, showing that they can earn more money”, said German Streck.

During the visit there was a presentation of the first three years of research by the UFPel doctoral student, Matheus Bastos Martins, a discussion was held on the presence of weeds in lowlands in the Southern Half of RS, depending on soil cover, use of livestock and strategic application of chemical control. Furthermore, the advancement of soybeans in lowlands was discussed, highlighting the potential for using furrow-ridge technology to produce more food. The closure took place after the field visit, in the soybean areas, which are in the grain filling period.