Approval of a herbicide for use on Clearfield sunflowers is expected to clear the way for the Clearfield sunflower system this spring.
BASF Canada on Thursday announced it has picked up minor-use registration for its Group 2 herbicide Solo to be used in Clearfield sunflower crops. The imazamox herbicide is already approved for control of several grasses and broadleaf weeds in field peas and Clearfield canola.
The company said the minor-use registration — supported by both Manitoba’s provincial ag department and the National Sunflower Association, it noted — will allow the Clearfield production system for sunflowers to be made commercially available in 2008, including four new varieties.
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Seed development company Seeds 2000 will offer Jaguar, an early-maturing confection variety, and Viper, a medium-maturing oilseed variety. Mycogen will have two NuSun varieties, 8N386 CL (medium-late maturing) and 8N358 CL (medium-early maturing).
Arvel Lawson, an oilseed specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives (MAFRI) at Carman, said in BASF’s release Thursday that broadleaf weed control is one of the major challenges in growing sunflowers and the availability of Clearfield sunflowers and Solo will give growers another option for production.
Growers who seed Clearfield sunflowers starting in 2008 will be required to sign BASF’s “Clearfield Commitment,” which includes a $3-per-acre fee at the time of seed purchase, the company said. The commitment package also gives growers discounts on certain amounts of various BASF products. (The fee is charged on Clearfield canola and sunflowers, but not on Clearfield wheat or lentils, in 2008.)
BASF said last summer that it also planned to seek registration to use its Group 2 herbicide Odyssey in Clearfield sunflowers.
BASF’s Clearfield crops are bred for tolerance to specific herbicides such as Odyssey and Solo, but are recognized as non-GMO, unlike some other herbicide-tolerant crops, thus allowing Clearfield growers much wider marketing and export opportunities.
