Sugar cane tolerance to sequential application of nematicides and herbicides

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out in a sandy soil (85 % of sand) aiming at studying herbicide/nematicide interaction in sugar cane. Terbufos and carbofuran, both applied at 3000 g/ha in the furrow at planting and the herbicides oxyfluorfen--ametryne (480+ 1500 g/ha), oxyfluorfen+diuron (480+2400 g/ha) and thiazopyr+ametryn (360+ 1500 g/ha) were studied. The herbicides were applied before emergence of the sugar cane plants, with a CO2 knapsack sprayer, equipped with 6 nozzles Teejet DO 80.02. The experimental design was a completely randomized block design in a factorial 3 x 5 arrangement, with four replications. The nematicides did not show any interaction with the herbicides. Carbofuran was better than terbufós, producing higher sugarcane yield. Thiazopyr + ametryn showed the most severe phytotoxic effects until 123 DAA (days after application). A tank mixture oxyfluorfen + ametryn and oxyfluorfen+diuron were the most selective products for the sugarcane plants. Sugarcane yield was not affected by any of the applied herbicides.