Crop Response to Carryover of Mesotrione Residues in the Field

Abstract

Two field residue studies were conducted from 2005 to 2007 in Simcoe, Ontario, Canada, to evaluate the effects of mesotrione soil residues on injury, plant dry weight, and yield of sugar beet, cucumber, pea, green bean, and soybean and to verify the potential of reducing a 2-yr field-residue study (conventional residue carryover) to a 1-yr field study (simulated residue-carryover study) by growing these crops in soil treated with reduced rates of mesotrione applied in the same year. There was a significant difference in mesotrione carryover between 2006 and 2007 and differences between years can be explained by differences in soil pH and soil moisture. The conventional and the simulated residue-carryover studies successfully measured mesotrione persistence and rotational crop sensitivity. Both studies showed that sugar beet was the most-sensitive crop with injury, plant dry weight reduction, and yield loss because of mesotrione residues as high as 100%. Green bean was the next most-sensitive crop to mesotrione residues followed by pea, cucumber, and soybean. The simulated residue-carryover study provided a more-rigorous test of rotational crop sensitivity to mesotrione residues than the conventional residue-carryover study, especially at higher rates for the more-sensitive crops. For the other crops, responses to mesotrione residues were similar between the conventional and simulated residue-carryover studies.