Jan. 24, 2025
FMC U.S. introduced Keenali Complete herbicide and Keenali GR herbicide as the brand names for the new herbicides powered by Dodhylex active in the United States. Pending U.S. EPA decision, FMC anticipates the launch of Keenali Complete herbicide in 2027 and Keenali GR herbicide in 2028 for rice growers.
Dodhylex active, the FMC brand name for tetflupyrolimet, has been classified by the Herbicide Resistance Action Committee and the Weed Science Society of America as a Group 28 herbicide, making it the first new herbicide mode of action globally in nearly 40 years, and will be an important new rotational tool for growers to manage herbicide resistance.
"The Keenali herbicide brands will be a massive next step for FMC as we continue to write this new chapter of weed management in the U.S. agricultural industry and prepare to deliver a critical solution for rice growers facing weed resistance," says Darren Dillenbeck, vice president and president of FMC North America. "We have spent more than a decade at our Stine Research Center and in fields across the world researching, developing and testing these herbicides. These solutions demonstrate the FMC commitment to our partners and growers we serve to help them control challenging weeds."
Keenali Complete herbicide will be a co-pack offering, combining Dodhylex active with the long-standing industry standard, Command 3ME microencapsulated herbicide, to harness their complementary spectrum while providing built-in herbicide resistance stewardship for both active ingredients. This use of multiple modes of action in a co-pack is a proactive step by FMC to protect the new Dodhylex active and provide technology better able to withstand resistance development.
Keenali Complete herbicide will give rice growers two modes of action to use at the preemergence application stage. This solution will be commercialized and marketed to the Mid-South rice growing region (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas). It will be an effective tool for managing herbicide-resistant barnyardgrass biotypes, sprangletop (Amazon and bearded) and other grass species.
Rigorously tested in all rice herbicide platforms, Keenali Complete herbicide will provide additional residual grass control and demonstrated crop safety, as well as fit with a variety of cultural practices, including direct- and water-seeded rice production. Pending EPA decision, it's expected to be commercially available for the 2027 growing season.
"In the Mid-South, we are dealing with barnyardgrass that is harboring resistance to five modes of action and we need options to manage it. Studies show Keenali Complete herbicide has excellent efficacy and residual activity on those barnyardgrass populations," says Lawson Priess, technical service manager in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and the bootheel of Missouri for FMC U.S.
"Additionally, the complimentary spectrum and soil residual of these two herbicides working together will help rice growers balance the demands of planting season and early season weed control, and provide flexibility to apply their subsequent postemergence herbicide application timely to effectively achieve season-long weed control."
Keenali GR herbicide will be commercialized as a stand-alone preemergence herbicide for the California rice market to control barnyardgrass, late watergrass and sprangletop. Positioned as a residual, Keenali GR herbicide will set a strong foundation for season-long control of herbicide-resistant grass weeds. Pending EPA decision, it's expected to be commercially available for the 2028 growing season.
"This will give California a new selective grass herbicide in the preemergent space," states Kate Walker, technical service manager in California for FMC U.S. "California rice growers are struggling to control watergrass species and don't have the necessary tools available. Keenali GR herbicide will fill that need. Applying in that preemergent window will help reduce competition from watergrass and help get the rice crop established."
University Researchers' Perspectives on Keenali GR and Keenali Complete Herbicides
U.S. university researchers, ranging from Louisiana State University to the University of California-Davis to the University of Arkansas, have conducted hundreds of trials with Keenali GR and Keenali Complete herbicides in the greenhouse, growth chambers and fields under varying conditions and soil types over a five-year period. Each geography and its rice growers face different weed management challenges, and the variety of university-implemented trials has enabled Keenali GR and Keenali Complete herbicides to be thoroughly tested and allowed third-party experts to vet them against their unique growing conditions and weed challenges.
Jason Norsworthy, distinguished professor and weed scientist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: "What has stood out is the activity Dodhylex active has on barnyardgrass. On clay soils, it's the most effective barnyardgrass residual material. For the rice industry, the number-one weed in Mid-South rice production is barnyardgrass. To have a tool that can be placed on any acre and get extended residual control of barnyardgrass and sprangletops is exciting. Also, based on carryover and drift research with Dodhylex active, I think rice growers will be pleasantly surprised to see how well it can be applied without fear of injuring nearby crops."
Kassim Al-Khatib, the Melvin D. Androus endowed professor for weed science at the University of California-Davis: "Tetflupyrolimet (Dodhylex active) is an excellent herbicide to control grasses, especially resistant weeds. We have a wide spread of herbicide-resistant grass weeds to other modes of action herbicide. Some populations are resistant to all registered herbicides in California. We have tested tetflupyrolimet on more than 50 grass populations of resistant grass weeds and we controlled all of them. This herbicide is also effective on bearded sprangletop where we do not have many alternatives. Also, this herbicide fits in many programs -- tank mixed or sequential application -- to control weeds."
Connor Webster, assistant professor and rice extension weed specialist at Louisiana State University: "In terms of the spectrum of control, barnyardgrass is our number-one weed, and we need help. A lot of our research shows tetflupyrolimet tends to have a little longer residual. Now, when paired with Command herbicide, the two together show synergistic interaction to control barnyardgrass, which we've seen consistently over the past four years of research. That's a big positive. Having the two together is better than either one of them separate, plus you get that little bit longer window of residual control. That can potentially buy you some time when you have to make a postemergent application, and being able to buy time is critical."
Pending EPA decision, FMC anticipates launching Keenali Complete herbicide in 2027 for the Mid-South rice growing region and Keenali GR herbicide in 2028 for the California rice growing region.
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