Selectivity of preemergence herbicides in a sunflower crop

Abstract

One obstacle to sunflower production is weed competition. A limited number of herbicides have been registered for this crop in Brazil and the lack ofwide spectrum broadleafweed control herbicides increases the need for other weed control methods. A field experiment was conducted at Embrapa Soja, Londrina county, Paraná State, Brazil, to evaluate sunflower tolerance to preemergence herbicides. The treatments were acetochlor+oxyfluorfen (1536+240 g/ha), oxyfluorfen (360 g/ha), oxyfluorfen (240 g/ha), Iinuron (1000 g/ha), aclonifen (1800 g/ha), oxadiargil (800 g/ha), diflufenican (25 g/ha), triflluralin (1800 g/ha), metolachlor (1920 g/ha), sulfentrazone (300 g/ha), prometrine (1600 g/ha), alachlor (3360 g/ha) and a noherbicide control. The treatments acetochlor+oxyflorfen (1536+240 g/ha) and oxyfluorfen (360 g/ha) caused crop injury but this phytotoxicity did not affect oil content and yield. AIl evaluated treatments were suitable for use with the Morgan M-742 sunflower cultivar.