Heavy reliance on herbicides has given rise to concerns about the rapid development of herbicide resistance, nontarget spray drift, and environmental pollution. There is an urgent need for non-chemical innovations to manage weeds and herbicide resistance. The presentation will address current research of using crop’s own natural chemical defense systems against weeds (termed allelopathy). On the other hand, novel chemicals with new modes of actions are needed to combat the ever-evolving herbicide resistance. However, there have been no achievements in commercializing herbicides with new modes of action over the last 25 years. Learning from nature is one way forward in identifying bioactive compounds for weed management. Current study on the herbicidal activities of essential oils obtained from Australian native Eucalyptus will be presented.
Prof. Hanwen Wu, as the team leader and senior research scientist in weeds research of Industry and Investment, New South Wales(I&I NSW), has engaged in agriculture research for many years, involved in tertiary education and research on weed science, agricultural extension, plant breeding, ecological farming, and biotechnology. In return, he has won several awards in education and scientific research at home and abroad, and more than 30 application projects, with more than 150 research papers in SCI journals. And Prof. Hanwen Wu, a member of NSW Weeds Society and International Allelopathy Society, achieved the Award for Publications Excellence by EH Graham Centre of Charles Sturt University in 2012.