Development of a management system for mimosa bush (Vachellia farnesiana): Evaluating chemical herbicide methods and investigating the potential for harnessing dieback as a management tool

My project aimed to expand the range of control options for mimosa bush by evaluating the effectiveness of the new encapsulated delivery mechanism for stem injection of chemical herbicides, as well as determining if fungi causing dieback can be isolated from mimosa bush and developed into a potential bioherbicide. Current recommendation of chemical herbicides for mimosa bush control were assessed in a natural population of mimosa bush and resulted in the best option of chemical herbicide treatment for mimosa bush control. Furthermore, fungi isolated from mimosa bush samples displaying dieback symptoms in the field were initially evaluated for potential activity by seedlings assays. Promising isolates will then be further tested in glasshouse studies before evaluation under field conditions in naturally occurring infestations. Successful isolates may be adopted by Bioherbicides Australia Pty Ltd as a bioherbicide for the control of mimosa bush.