D22-Lancaster Farming Saturday, December 8,1990 WASHINGTON. D.C. “Cocktail time” is fast approach ing for crop-hindering weeds, but few of them are likely to survive the party. Roy J. Smith Jr., an agronomist with the U.S. Department of Agri culture’s Agricultural Research Service, has been studying the “cocktail” approach to weed con trol, blending chemicals and natural weapons such as fungi to solve multiple problems in a single sweep. Smith doesn’t invent the ingre dients; those come from commer cial manufacturers and research laboratories, and include both commercially available herbicides and experimental materials. His specialty is the combina tions. Using fungi and herbicides, he’s blended substances capable of hitting two weeds at once, and one blend even goes after three. While Smith works primarily in rice, he says there’s no reason why similar combinations can’t be organized against weeds in other crops. And he emphasizes that the combinations aren’t creating brand-new weapons simply blending two that can co-exist peacefully as each goes about its business of fighting weeds. A basic ingredient in Smith’s recipes is a form of the fungus Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, marketed by Ecogen Inc. of Lang home, Pa., as College. An ounce of the fungal spores about 78 billion spores per acre will wipe out northern jointvetch, a major weed in rice fields. “Northern jointvetch makes little black seeds that get into the rice, so farmers are paid less for their rice,” said Smith, who works BINS & AUGERS Authorized ■ NORTHEAST AGRI SYSTEMS, INC. FLYWAY BUSINESS PARK l£rT 7 ,fo{ 139 A West Airport Rd. V\/ Litttz, PA 17543 \ Crop Weeds Face Deadly Combinations at the Rice Production and Weed Control Research unit operated by ARS at Stuttgart, Ark. “We had other weeds we needed to control, too, so we started looking at possi ble combinations of fungal patho gens and herbicides that would be environmentally safe.” One of the early finds was a fungus that attacks winged water primrose, an aquatic weed in rice. Researchers were able to grow the fungus in the laboratory, put it in rice fields and wipe out the weed using only an ounce of spores per acre. Best of all, it mixed well with the fungus that attacks north ern jointvetch. “It looked really good in research,” Smith said. “But there was one problem winged water primrose isn’t prevalent enough to justify a company developing this commercially. Perhaps, in the future, if this weed becomes a big problem, someone might recon sider this.” Hemp sesbania, on the other hand, is a big enough problem to attract major herbicide company attention. Seen in both rice and soybean fields, hemp sesbania, like northern jointvetch, sullies the harvest with little black seeds, resulting in lower payments for the crop. Hemp sesbania and northern jointvetch are considered “companion weeds,” since they like the same type of environment and often infest the same fields. The chemical acifluorfen is commonly used to control hemp sesbania, but does little to block northern jointvetch. Smith discov ered that acifluorfen can be applied in conjunction with the fungus against northern joint vetch, and that combination now Master Distributor is used by farmers. Similarly, bentazon, the chemi cal used against the aquatic weed redstem, also works well in com bination with the fungus, Smith said. “You’re not as likely to see all three of these weeds northern jointvetch, redstem and hemp ses bania in one field, but if you do, we’ve even developed a three way mix that gives good control of all three," he said. The next, and tougher, step is finding a fungicide that fights crop diseases without also wiping out the northern jointvetch-fighting fungus, Smith said. “The amount of rice that’s The only concrete slat with Your Animals Comfort In Mind STORE HOURS; Mon.-Frl. 7:30-4:30 We’ve changed our name from Syri-Con Precast Concrete Corp. to: Our management and employees remain the same. We continue to offer die same quality products and services as before. The only change is our new name. “Waffle Cattle Slats” Waffle Heifer Slats ■ 1 60"- 30" H-Bunks lontact Us For Complete Details On Heifer Cattle, Hog And Free Stall Barns Keystone , concrete: products treated with a fungicide has increased tremendously in the last seven to eight years,” he said. “But the main one used is benomyl, and it’s quite injurious to C. gloeosporioides, As it stands now, a farmer has to choose between using the fungus for his weeds or a fungicide for crop dis eases.” One promising newcomer is a fungicide called iprodione. Smith said it can’t be applied at the same time as the beneficial fungus, but the fungus can survive in a field treated earlier with iprodione. Even more encouraging is an experimental fungicide called pencycuron. According to Smith, ■MC. this can be mixed directly with C. gloeosporioides without injuring the fungus. “It’ll be a pretty good step forward when it’s approved for use on rice,” he said. “We also hope to find other natural fungi like the one that attacks winged water primrose,” Smith said. “I think they’re out there somewhere for most of our major weeds in rice, particularly the aquatic weeds. “We are constantly researching ways to produce and improve weed control strategies that pro tect the environment. I think these types of mixes are among the most promising,” he said. MW EYSTOWE > K CONCRETE f ■ mPRODUCTSN Waffle Hog Slats Concrete Hog Penning 477 East Farmersville Rd. • New Holland, PA 17557 (717) 355-2361 • MIC. J-Bunks
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