The herbicide active substance ‘aclonifen’ is now authorised as ‘Emerger’ for use in outdoor sunflowers.
The authorisation was secured by the AHDB crop protection team, which specialises in Extensions of Authorisations for Minor Use (EAMUs) in horticultural crops.
Aclonifen provides growers of outdoor sunflowers with a valuable pre-emergence broad-leaved weed control option, this spring.
Vivian Powell, who led the application at AHDB, said: “Broad-leaved weed control in outdoor sunflowers relies largely on pre-emergence products that contain the active ingredient pendimethalin.
“This chemistry has struggled to get on top of some weeds, such as cleavers, redshank and black-bindweed, offering little or no pre-emergence control. As post-emergence sprays can be highly damaging to sunflowers, the authorisation of aclonifen will significantly improve the spectrum of weeds that can be controlled in this crop.”
The EAMU (1615/2019) relates to the use of ‘Emerger’ (M19056) as a pre-emergence herbicide for the control of mayweed, fat hen, cleavers, shepherd’s-purse, chickweed, nettle, speedwell, knot-grass, black-bindweed, redshank, oilseed rape, crane’s-bill and sow-thistle in outdoor sunflowers.
The active substance aclonifen is authorised for use on a range of crops, including sunflowers, in the rest of Europe. This EAMU is based on Mutual Recognition of an authorisation in Lithuania.
Growers interested in the product should refer to the advisory information on the notice of authorisation published on the CRD website.
