BASF chemistry to ride shotgun with glyphosate

BASF Canada will promote a new class of herbicide chemistry as a tank-mix partner to burn off whatever glyphosate hasnt killed.

The Mississauga-based Canadian ag chem wing of the German chemical firm officially rolled out its Group 14 broadleaf herbicide Heat on Thursday for use in the Prairie region.

The product, however, is not recommended for use on its own, but is registered as a tank-mix partner with "all formulations" of glyphosate in pre-seed or pre-emerge (prior to ground crack) applications before cereal or pulse crops, or in chemfallow.

Heat was granted registration Thursday registered for use ahead of wheat, durum, oats, barley, corn, canaryseed, chickpeas, field peas, lentils and soybeans, for what BASFs Western herbicides market manager Chris Vander Kant called the "fastest, sharpest and most sustainable" control of broadleaf weeds.

The saflufenacil herbicide, a member of the pyrimidinedione class of chemistry dubbed "Kixor" by BASF, is to be sold in a water-soluble granular form.

Heat is registered to control broadleafs up to the eight-leaf stage, including dandelion, narrow-leaved hawks beard, volunteer canola (including Roundup Ready canola), wild buckwheat, kochia (including Group 2-resistant strains), and spring and winter annual cleavers (including Group 2-resistant strains).

"Because Heat also controls glyphosate-tolerant and Group 2-resistant weeds, its an important part of a resistance management plan for sustainability in reduced tillage operations," the company said in a release Thursday.

Development and evaluation of Heat involved independent weed scientists from across North America from an early stage, BASF noted.

Typically, the company said, outside researchers are brought in for data verification after a chemical firm has done its own research and a product is already registered.

Although the companys staff discovered the Kixor molecules "unique potential for on-farm weed management" while researching it, BASF then formed an advisory body of Canadian and U.S. weed scientists to oversee the development of the molecule and assess its potential for pre-seed burndown and in chemfallow.

Grower trials

A number of Prairie grain growers were also able to preview the product on 40 acres each in 2009 during the companys GrowForward Yield Challenge, comparing it to their treatment of choice.

"Within 97 trials across Western Canada, Heat controlled weeds in as little as four days after application," the company said, adding that "resilient" weeds, including dandelion, narrow-leaved hawks-beard, volunteer Roundup Ready canola, Group 2-resistant kochia and wild buckwheat, were controlled "quicker and more completely" by Heat than by competing treatments.

The company said its GrowForward data shows Heat giving 30 per cent better control of dandelion and narrow-leaved hawks beard, and 20 per cent better control of wild buckwheat, within four days to two weeks after treatment.

Two to four weeks after treatment, BASF said, Heat gave its test growers 30 per cent better control of volunteer canola and 15 per cent better control of kochia.

BASF said it plans to market Heat within its 2010 GrowForward rewards program, which ties it to discounts on several other BASF herbicides as well as its Headline and Lance fungicide brands.