| Abstract | Itch grass, raoul grass, or guinea fowl grass emerged as a problem weed of sugarcane fields in the Burdekin district of North Queensland during the late 1970s - early 1980s. It is considered to be a native of tropical Asia, but has become endemic to many other tropical areas, and is a major weed of sugarcane in Eastern Africa, the Philippines, West Indies, Trinidad, Florida and Louisiana. Itch grass has been recorded in Colombia, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, New Guinea, Mississippi and Texas and has been described as rapidly becoming one of the world's worst weeds. In the Burdekin canegrowing district, itch grass occurs in varying degrees of infestation over an assigned area of 1 600 ha. From the intital infestation on one farm in 1964, the grass has been recorded on 33 farms in the Pioneer Mill area, one in the Kalamia Mill area, and three in the Inkerman Mill area (see Map, Appendix 1). The project described in this paper was initiated early in 1983 to determine the viability of itch grass seed under field conditions. It was reasoned that the results from the project could be used to define more clearly strategies necessary to effect efficient control of this weed. |
