Everybody has heard of Round Up Ready technology and a lot of people think that it is great. And it is great. However, there are certain limitations to the technology that people should be aware of. Glyphosate (Roundup, Touchdown) is what is known as a burndown herbicide. The molecule is absorbed through foliage and is translocated to the growing points of the weed where it inhibits amino acid synthesis. Because it requires growing plant tissue to work, glyphosate has no residual effect. So, any weeds that emerge after glyphosate is applied are safe from its effects. This means that multiple applications of glyphosate are usually required to keeps crop areas free of weed. Weed control can be greatly improved by combining glyphosate (or another burndown herbicide) with a chemical (such as atrazine or S-metolachlor) that has residual action. This system not only kills weeds that are present, but prevents the germination and emergence of other weeds. Now remember that certain chemicals are labeled for certain crops, so be sure that you read the label before applying anything. Also note that glyphosate technology only works with crops that are specifically engineered to be resistant to glyphosate. So if you are going use glyphosate on your corn, make sure that it is glyphosate tolerant or your will be very sorry.
Take Care,
John
What does Syngenta think about Monstanto and Dow AgroScience’s SmartStax which just gained EPA approval in the U.S. and Canada last week?
REPLY FROM JOHN:
Neat Question. I am working mostly with the crop protection side of things
but it looks pretty interesting. Syngenta recently entered into an
agreement with Dow to offer the Herculex traits in its own Agrisure Hybrids
in exchange for rights to Syngenta’s GT technology. It seems like
collaboration between the big companies like Monsanto, Dow, BASF, Bayer and
Syngenta is becoming more and more common due to the extremely high costs of
research and registration. For example Syngenta is working with Bayer to
develop on the same chemical. The technical data is being shared between
the two companies and when/if the product is registered Syngenta will be
able to offer it in agronomic crops and Bayer will have the rights to market
it in turf and ornamental crops. Thanks for bringing it up and let me know
if you find out anything else or if you can clarify.
-John Orlowski