A population of Great brome grass (Bromus diandrus) from South Australia has been confirmed resistant to the world's most important herbicide, glyphosate.

This is the first time that this highly competitive annual grass weed of crops and pastures has evolved resistance to glyphosate and is the third Australian weed species confirmed as resistant to glyphosate in the past 12 months. This highlights the need for growers to be on-the-lookout for any weeds that should be controlled by glyphosate but which survive.

The resistant brome grass was found surviving in a paddock where an old fence had been removed and cropped over and a pre-sowing application of glyphosate had been applied. The fence line had previously been sprayed with glyphosate for many years with no other weed control tactics used.

"This is a huge concern to Australian grain growers because this highly competitive weed has been becoming a major problem in reduced-tillage farming," said Associate Professor Chris Preston, chair of the Australian Glyphosate Sustainability Working Group and leader of the University of Adelaide team which confirmed the result.

"Currently the number of glyphosate-resistant ryegrass populations evolving along fence lines is exploding. That and this new discovery are a real 'wake-up call’ and show that any weed might develop glyphosate resistance and growers need to be vigilant."

Brome grass is a major weed of crop and pasture on lighter textured soils across the southern and western Australian cereal belts. In wheat, there are few effective in-crop herbicide options for this species, and it can reduce yields by 30 to 40%. It also emerges after crop establishment enabling it to compete strongly with the crop and produce large amounts of seed.

The GRDC Board is accountable to Australia's grain growers, through the industry peak organisation and to the Commonwealth Parliament, through the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. The GRDC Board normally has between seven and nine directors.

The Chairman is selected and appointed by the Minister. Mr Keith Perrett was appointed by the Minister on 1 October 2007, and reappointed until 30 September 2013.

The Managing Director is appointed by the Board of the Corporation. The Managing Director is the sole Executive Director and holds office at the Corporation's pleasure. John Harvey was appointed as the GRDC’s Managing Director on 1 March 2011.

Five to seven Directors are appointed by the Minister, on advice from a selection committee selected by the Minister. On 22 November 2011 the Minister announced the appointment of 6 directors, until 30 September 2014.

Western Australian researchers have identified new genetic material which wheat breeders can use in coming years to strengthen the resistance of new varieties against yellow spot disease.

Australian wheat breeders have been equipped with new tools to assist the development of varieties which, at harvest, are less likely to be downgraded in quality due to grain defects.

The Australian Winter Cereals Pre-Breeding Alliance will now function as a subcommittee of the Grains Industry National Research, Development and Extension (RD&E) Strategy.

The wide spread of agro-ecological zones in Western Australia throws up diverse research priorities, as was keenly demonstrated in this year's GRDC spring panel tours.

Australian wheat breeders have been presented with a smorgasbord of genetic material which will allow them to breed new varieties with flowering times specifically adapted to different production areas.

Pre-breeding research is examining maize germplasm from overseas for new varieties to increase production for high-value export markets.

The DNA sequence of entire plant genomes is becoming a resource for pre-breeders, but applying that knowledge is proving harder than initially anticipated as a new bottleneck appears on the genomic route to genetic gain.

Higher-yielding and drought-tolerant wheat varieties are in the research and development pipeline, but a representative from one of the largest international plant breeding companies says it may be 10 years before such advanced biotech wheat is available commercially.