Bayer’s new herbicide controls grass in cornfieldsBayer’s new herbicide controls grass in cornfields

A new preemergence corn herbicide from Bayer offers three different sites of action to control grass and broadleaf weeds. Combine it with atrazine and John Buol, technical manager for select herbicides for Bayer Crop Science, says farmers have four modes of action and a herbicide-resistance management tool.

One of the largest issues facing crop farmers is weed resistance, according to Buol, particularly with Palmer pigweed and waterhemp. Bayer’s new Trivolt herbicide offers a management solution with ingredients from three different site-of-action groups.

Buol outlines unique benefits from each:

Thiencarbazone-methyl. This is a Group 2 low-use-rate herbicide for corn. In the Trivolt chemistry, thiencarbazone makes up just 0.23 pound of active ingredient per gallon while offering a strong residual element for weed control, according to Buol.

Flufenacet. This Group 15 herbicide may not be familiar to farmers. “It’s going to add residual control of grasses and small-seeded broadleaf weeds,” Buol says. “And the flufenacet hangs around quite well with a lot of rain.”

Isoxaflutole. This Group 27 herbicide triggers reactivation with as little as a half-inch of rain. Buol says this gives farmers some reach-back control of weeds.

“What we’ve seen with our internal trial efforts with Trivolt is a consistently high level of weed control across a variety of weather conditions,” Buol adds.

At 56 days after preemergence application of Trivolt plus a pound of atrazine, researchers found 95% control of broad-spectrum weeds. Taking the broadleaves and looking only at the narrowleaf data, Buol found 94% control.

Trivolt is applied preplant or preemergence at planting, but Buol adds there is some ability to go out postemergence at V2 corn. It can be either a one- or two-pass herbicide program.

While Buol recommends tank-mixing with atrazine as a herbicide-resistance tool, Trivolt can also be mixed with DiFlexx or Roundup.