Field evaluation of MKH-6561 for Phalaris minor control in durum wheat

Six field experiments have been conducted on durum wheat from 1996 through 1999 in the Imperial Valley of southeastern California, USA to evaluate Phalaris miller control with MKH-6561, a new herbicide being developed by Bayer Co. Phalaris minor is an important weedy annual grass in warm temperate and subtropical cereal growing regions, such as the southwestern USA northern Mexico, the Mediterranean, and south Asia. This grass is not adequately controlled by currently available herbicides. In addition, durum wheat is usually more easily injured by grass control herbicides that are safe to other types of wheat, which further reduces the herbicide options for Phalaris minor control. In these experiments, comparisons of MKH-6561 were made to five herbicides; diclofop-methyl, tralkoxydim, clodinafop, fenoxaprop, and flucarbazone-sodium. Over the six trials, MKH-6561 has provided the most consistent control of Phalaris mirror among the herbicides tested. Crop injury has been observed in some cases, but appears to be related to stage of growth of the crop and herbicide dosage at time of application. Yield data from these trials indicates that MKH-6561, at most of the tested rates and timing of application, is safe to the crop.