TITLE:
Management of Grass and Broadleaf Weeds in Processing Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) with Clomazone, in the Argentinian Pampas
AUTHORS:
Daniel Osmar Caldiz, Carolina de Lasa, Pablo Eugenio Bisio
KEYWORDS:
Clomazone, Weed Competition, Potato, Tuber Yield
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.7 No.16,
November
28,
2016
ABSTRACT: Weed competition in the potato crop could cause up to a 95% yield reduction depending
on the variety, the weed species and the competition period. In this work the
effect of Clomazone (Command 36 CS®), when applied alone or in combination with
Metribuzin (Sencorex® 48) upon grass and broad-leaved weeds was assessed. The
work was carried out under the environmental conditions of the Argentinian Pampas,
where close to 50% of the potatoes produced in the country are grown. The field
trial was performed during the spring-summer crop, season 2008/09, with cv. Innovator,
in a completely randomized design of the following treatments: (a) control,
without weed control; (b) Clomazone 1.6 l·ha-1; (c) Clomazone 2.0 l·ha-1; (d) Clomazone
1 l·ha-1 + Metribuzin 0.75 l·ha-1; (e) Clomazone 1.6 l·ha-1 + Metribuzin 0.5
l·ha-1; and (f) Metribuzin 1.35 l·ha-1. Treatment effectiveness (TE), crop competition
level (CCL) and weed suppression index (WSI) were assessed at 38, 53 and 72 days
after planting (DAP), while yield and quality were also evaluated, following industry
protocols. In those treatments were Clomazone was used alone, at 2 l·ha-1, or combined
(Clomazone 1 l·ha-1 + Metribuzin 0.75 l·ha-1), a higher yield was observed. Besides,
a high correlation between TE, WSI and tuber yield was also achieved. Clomazone
improved TE, CCL and WSI, which was not only reflected in higher tuber
yields, but also on better tuber quality.