TWO new herbicide active ingredients are expected to be available to Australian growers by 2020, after German chemical company BASF submitted regulatory dossiers for Luximo and Tirexor-based products.
The herbicides form part of BASF’s plans to introduce about 25 new products over the next five years.
According to BASF Crop Protection business unit president Markus Heldt, the two compounds have demonstrated good performance against a range of grasses and broadleaf weeds and could be used by Australian growers as another tool to safeguard their crops while managing herbicide resistance.
“Luximo and Tirexor are the latest solutions, and outstanding examples of our commitment to develop new active ingredients to keep,” Mr Heldt said.
“The constant and close exchange with our customers has helped us to find the right, effective solutions answering growers’ challenges; support for resistance management, environmental-friendly approaches and fast-acting solutions.”
Pending regulatory approval, BASF expected the first market introductions of Luximo-based product formulations as early as 2020 in Australia, and 2021 in the United Kingdom.
Luximo was designed as an active ingredient which provides pre-emergence, residual control against a broad range of grasses, including difficult-to-control blackgrass and ryegrass in winter cereals.
According to BASF, the molecule boasts a novel mode of action that controls grasses that have developed resistance.
With no known cross-resistance, Luximo has the potential to strengthen existing integrated weed management systems for sustainable resistance management.
Meantime BASF intends to have its Tirexor-based product formulations introduced in Australia from 2020 onwards.
Tirexor is a new protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO) inhibitor herbicide offering the capability to control PPO-resistant weeds, including tough-to-control pigweed and ragweed species.
BASF described the herbicide is fast-acting, with foliar effects that can occur within one day.
Tirexor’s anticipated global uses include application on a wide array of crops including small grain cereals, corn, soybean, pulse crops, oil palm, and numerous tree fruit and nut crops.
In addition, it is the first new mode of action for the foliar burndown of grass weeds in 20 years, offering a new tool for control of ryegrass ahead of crop planting.
As a flexible herbicide, Tirexor also provides residual and burndown control of certain grass and broadleaf weeds and will be a preeminent means for the control of wild radish, ryegrass, capeweed, and many other weeds of issue in Australian cereal crops.
Representatives from BASF, including product development manager global strategic marketing herbicides Dr Helmut Kraus, and global product development manager Dr Greg Armel will be at the Australasian Weeds Conference in Sydney, New South Wales, over three days from Sunday, September 9 to discuss the products further.
