New dicamba benefits presented at SWSS

During the 65th annual meeting of the Southern Weed Science Society (SWSS) Tuesday, BASF Crop Protection presented research related to Engenia herbicide, the company’s next-generation formulation of dicamba. Research presentation topics included: advances in dicamba formulation, effective use of dicamba and best management practices for dicamba use in dicamba-tolerant crops.

"Engenia will be an important new tool for soybean growers battling herbicide- resistant weeds, like Palmer amaranth, waterhemp and marestail,” said Paul Rea, vice president, U.S. Crop Protection, BASF. “Research presented at the half-day symposium at SWSS showed that Engenia will provide a valuable, new herbicide option as part of a comprehensive weed control system to help growers protect their crops from yield-robbing weeds.”

Engenia will be used with the dicamba-tolerant soybean system currently in development in cooperation with Monsanto. BASF anticipates making the Engenia submission to the regulatory agency in the United States in 2012. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approval of Engenia is anticipated prior to commercialization of Monsanto’s Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield dicamba-tolerant soybean system. U.S. commercialization of the new system for soybeans is expected mid-decade with cotton, corn and canola to follow.

BASF claims it provides more corn and soybean herbicide sites of action for weed control than any other crop protection company. The company recently launched OpTill PRO and Armezone herbicides.