Evaluation of the potency of different seed oil ethoxylates to increase herbicide efficacy in comparison to commercial adjuvants
- Publication Type
- Contribution to conference
- Authors
- Julia Heini and Hans-Georg Mainx and Roland Gerhards
- Year of publication
- 2012
- Published in
- Proceedings of the 25th German Conference on Weed Biology and Weed Control
- Editor
- Henning Nordmeyer and Lena Ulber
- Pubisher
- Julius-Kühn-Institut , Berlin, Germany
- Band/Volume
- 434/
- Series/labeling
- Julius-Kühn-Archiv
- ISBN / ISSN / eISSN
- 978-3-930037-84-1
- DOI
- 10.5073/jka.2012.434.070
- Page (from - to)
- 549-556
- Conference name
- 25. Deutsche Arbeitsbesprechung über Fragen der Unkrautbiologie und -bekämpfung (25th German Conference on Weed Biology and Weed Control)
- Conference location
- Braunschweig
- Conference date
- 13.-15. März 2012
The efficacy of many herbicides can be increased by adding adjuvants to the spray solution. Surfactants are able to increase foliar uptake of active ingredients for example, by enhancing retention of spray droplets on cuticles and penetration and absorption into leaf tissue. In this study, dose-response studies with ethoxylated seed oils (soybean, linseed, safflower and high oleic sunflower oil), in combination with the herbicides sulfosulfuron, carfentrazone-ethyl and foramsulfuron & iodosulfuron were conducted. Commercial adjuvants (polyethylated fatty alcohol, polyether siloxane and rapeseed oil methyl-ester) served as standards. The experiments were carried out under greenhouse conditions, using Abutilon theophrasti Medik. as test species. Dry weight of A. theophrasti was measured three weeks after treatment and dose-response curves were calculated by nonlinear regression analysis. Results showed that two of three herbicides did not control A. theophrasti sufficiently when they were applied without any adjuvant. The ethoxylated linseed oil decreased the ED90 of sulfosulfuron and foramsulfuron & iodosulfuron by 245- and 44-fold, respectively, whereas the ED90 of carfentrazone-ethyl was reduced 2-fold by the ethoxylated safflower oil. Furthermore, none of the herbicides developed its best efficiency in combination with the respective recommended commercial adjuvant. This experiment demonstrates that the potential of an herbicide can be increased adding ethoxylated seed oil adjuvants. Hence, with precise recommendations for herbicide-adjuvant-mixtures, herbicide application rates and costs could be reduced.