Selectivity of herbicides to crops by using chemical safeners

Abstract

Chemical safeners may be used to increase the tolerance of crops to herbicides, when applied as seed treatment, as well as in mixed or formulated joint to the herbicide. The mechanisms of action of these safeners are related to the reduction in the absorption and/or translocation, metabolization and to the competition with the site of herbicides action. This review aims to describe the ways of use, action mode, limitations and future perspectives for using safeners as an additional tool to increase the selectivity. Safeners use allows obtaining higher efficiency control of weed species, because provides both dose increasing of compounds that show which moderately impact over crops, and for the use of herbicides non selective to the crops, increasing the safety of application as well as the range of weed species controlled. By other side, the use of safeners aiming to increase the applied doses of herbicides, besides the ones established in respective registers, may result in optimization of environmental contamination, of crops and also of the personnel involved in the application.