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Herbicide-tolerant maize: effective for fighting weeds

Weed control is a must

Although a certain number of weeds can be tolerated in a field, once a certain number of weeds are present, i.e. the "threshold of damage" has been crossed, it is time for farmers to take action to protect their crops from weed competition and protect crop yields. Several methods of weed control are possible: thermal, mechanical and chemical. Application of chemicals (herbicides) is the preferred means in agricultural practice today. They are dependably effective, easily applied and take the least amount of effort.

Requirements for herbicides

Chemical means of fighting weeds (herbicides) must fulfill several conditions: they must kill the weed or greatly hinder its growth while not having any detrimental effect on applicators, the environment or crop in question – which in the Plant Science Garden is maize. The development of an appropriate herbicide that is both effective against weeds and tolerated by the crop is difficult and time-consuming, especially when the crop and weed are botanically similar, making weed control without crop damage difficult. Each group of crops requires a specific herbicide.

A new approach: herbicide-tolerant crops

A new weed management system employs broad-spectrum herbicides in combination with transgenic crops whose growth is not inhibited by the application of the respective broad-spectrum herbicide. Weed control can be significantly improved following this approach. A wide range of weeds can be effectively controlled, thanks to the broad-spectrum herbicide. At the same time, treatment is completely tolerated by the crop which remains undamaged.

In the Üplingen Plant Science Garden, various herbicide-tolerant maize lines are grown and treated with different combinations of herbicides. On the control plot, there is no weed management at all.

Date: 2011