Archives

Paraquat herbicide for non-selective weed control in no-till and other sustainable agriculture systems
Tuesday, 20 December 2011

US crop scientists are excited about the potential to protect soil in fields where corn is grown for biofuel production by the use of perennial cover crops suppressed by paraquat.
In the near future, the food versus fuel dilemma will be addressed by using ‘waste’ crop residues instead of grain as the feedstock for bioethanol. However, the concern is that removal of stover and chaff normally returned to the soil will cause serious erosion and fertility problems.
Iowa State University has conducted a three-year project that has demonstrated how carefully managed...

Paraquat herbicide for non-selective weed control in no-till and other sustainable agriculture systems
Wednesday, 16 November 2011

The introduction of glyphosate tolerant (GT) crops has been the one of the most significant technological changes in agriculture, along with mechanization and hybrid seed breeding. Farmers around the world are reaping the benefits of a simplified weed control system, saving costs, time and labor and increasing operational flexibility. Adoption has been rapid, particularly in the Americas. In the most important soybean growing US states, Brazil and Argentina around 90% of crops are GT. Globally 148 million ha were sown to GM crops across 29 countries in 2010 of which close to 90 million...

Paraquat herbicide for non-selective weed control in no-till and other sustainable agriculture systems
Monday, 10 October 2011

Farmers in southwest China are adopting no-till maize production using paraquat for weed control. A large proportion of crops in the region are grown by smallholder farmers on hillside fields. Soil erosion and loss of fertility are serious problems. The traditional methods of hand and mechanical weed control have very high labor demands and often cannot be done in a timely manner to achieve the best yields.

Recognizing these issues, a project was set-up to teach farmers and extension workers how to grow no-till maize. Demonstration field trials and training sessions were used...

Paraquat herbicide for non-selective weed control in no-till and other sustainable agriculture systems
Monday, 26 September 2011

Rice is the staple food for more than half the world. In Asia alone, more than two billion people obtain over 60% of their calories from rice. In developing countries nearly one billion people find employment associated with rice in the food chain. It is the most rapidly growing source of food in Africa and is critical to food security.
Protecting rice from weeds, pests and diseases is essential to avoiding heavy losses in yield. Weed control is usually most important. Paraquat is used to prepare the land for cultivating rice and on the bunds (levies) which surround paddy fields...

Paraquat herbicide for non-selective weed control in no-till and other sustainable agriculture systems
Wednesday, 24 August 2011

An assessment of the benefits of training Thai farmers in the safe use of crop protection products such as paraquat has shown that good product stewardship clearly has positive effects on the care farmers take in storage, handling and spraying.
The survey conducted by Kasetsart University also revealed the rich diversity of crops grown in western Thailand.
The training was conducted as part of a wider project, ‘The Safe and Sustainable Production of Horticultural Crops’, aimed at improving the quality of vegetable production systems in Thailand according to...

Paraquat herbicide for non-selective weed control in no-till and other sustainable agriculture systems
Tuesday, 02 August 2011

Controlling weeds in potatoes is a problem for many farmers. Paraquat is a very useful herbicide for potatoes because it can be used to burndown weeds from before planting right up to the point at which the potato sprouts start to emerge from the soil1. This allows for weed control measures to be tailored to the weeds present. As potatoes may take up to four weeks to emerge, significant weed growth may have occurred after planting. Weeds can quickly overrun potato crops if they are allowed to grow unchecked before the crop leaf canopy closes2.
They compete...

Paraquat herbicide for non-selective weed control in no-till and other sustainable agriculture systems
Monday, 11 July 2011

Tea is a thriving crop in Vietnam and farmers rely on paraquat for a weed control system that reduces soil erosion.  Much of the tea crop is grown on sloping land prone to losing very significant amounts of soil each year.
Results of research conducted by the Northern Mountainous Agriculture and Forestry Science Institute show that using paraquat for weed control instead of hand hoeing can save huge amounts of soil. Paraquat is more effective than glyphosate because it leaves roots intact to anchor the soil.
Tea in Vietnam
Tea is an important industry in Vietnam...

Paraquat herbicide for non-selective weed control in no-till and other sustainable agriculture systems
Saturday, 18 June 2011

Oil palm is the world’s leading vegetable oil crop. As a foodstuff, palm oil is believed to have several important benefits, particularly in lowering the risk of heart disease. As a very high yielding crop, it has become a major feedstock for biodiesel production. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil has been established to ensure that as production rises environmental issues such as biodiversity and soil erosion are addressed. Integrated pest management (IPM) approaches are widely used and ensure that crops are protected in a sustainable way.
Paraquat has a key role in...

Paraquat herbicide for non-selective weed control in no-till and other sustainable agriculture systems
Monday, 23 May 2011

Paraquat has always played a pivotal role in the development of no-till cropping systems in Brazil, as elsewhere. Not only has no-till helped to propel Brazil to the status of an agricultural ‘superpower’, but it has also brought many sustainable benefits by improving soils and reducing erosion, increasing biodiversity, reducing energy use and improving profitability. More recently, the contribution no-till farming can make to fighting climate change has been recognized. No-till soils sequester carbon as organic matter and because there are fewer passes over a field by...

Paraquat herbicide for non-selective weed control in no-till and other sustainable agriculture systems
Thursday, 28 April 2011

Paraquat has been found to be an effective ‘fire fighting’ treatment for large glyphosate resistant Palmer amaranth, sometimes called a ‘superweed’. Researchers at the University of Georgia, USA, have found that applying paraquat through weed wipers and similar implements can very effectively kill Palmer amaranth plants up to 5ft (1.50 m) tall1. While paraquat is very effective on smaller weeds, glyphosate’s systemic action generally makes it a better option on large weeds. However, where there are glyphosate resistant weeds an innovative...

Paraquat herbicide for non-selective weed control in no-till and other sustainable agriculture systems
Friday, 08 April 2011

Paraquat is in the front-line of US cotton growers’ defenses against glyphosate resistant Palmer amaranth, often described as a ‘superweed’.
This season an advanced design spray hood will enable weeds up to four feet tall (120 cm) to be controlled by paraquat, while shielding late growth-stage cotton from any leaf scorching. The hood has been designed for use at all growth-stages up until ‘layby’ (when the rows close).
Externally the hood is streamlined to glide easily between cotton rows without knocking fruit off more advanced plants. ...

Paraquat herbicide for non-selective weed control in no-till and other sustainable agriculture systems
Friday, 01 April 2011

The Chemical Review Committee (CRC) of the Rotterdam Convention1 reviewed the amended notification from Sweden at its meeting in Geneva in March 2010. The Committee agreed that the notification did not meet the specified requirements. Accordingly, and as earlier notifications from other countries did not meet the criteria either, paraquat as a substance was not put forward in the process to include it in the list of chemicals subject to the Prior Informed Consent procedure.
A proposal from Burkina Faso to list Gramoxone® Super as a Severely Hazardous Pesticide...

Paraquat herbicide for non-selective weed control in no-till and other sustainable agriculture systems
Thursday, 24 March 2011

Citrus are a varied and versatile family of fruit. Oranges are the most widely grown and eaten fresh or juiced, but the smaller, easy to peel, tangerines, mandarins, clementines and satsumas have become more popular in recent years. However, there are many other citrus which collectively are the number one fruit in international trade. Besides lemons, limes and grapefruit, try calamondins, citrons, pomelos or ugli fruit sometime.
In tree crops such as citrus, emphasis should be on the management of weeds rather than their permanent removal. Maintaining a particular balance of...

Paraquat herbicide for non-selective weed control in no-till and other sustainable agriculture systems
Thursday, 03 March 2011

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has begun to implement its strategy for Sustainable Crop Production Intensification (SCPI). By 2050, FAO estimates that to feed each person on the planet there will only be 0.16 ha of agricultural land available, compared 0.26 ha in 1999 and 0.4 ha in 1960, hence the need to intensify production. The goal of SCPI is to support countries and their farmers to grow more food and the focus will be on developing technologies and policies that will ensure sustainability1,2.
Conservation Agriculture
In practice, this will be...

Paraquat herbicide for non-selective weed control in no-till and other sustainable agriculture systems
Monday, 14 February 2011

Malaysian agriculture has had a wake-up call to the threat posed by herbicide resistant weeds. Paraquat has an essential role to play in avoiding this potentially huge problem. A report by the Paraquat Information Center of the discovery of populations the noxious weed goosegrass (Eleusine indica) resistant to the non-selective herbicide glufosinate has now been confirmed by publication in a scientific journal1.
A vegetable farmer in Malacca state and planters at an oil palm nursery in Pahang state had suspected that glufosinate was failing to control goosegrass....

Paraquat herbicide for non-selective weed control in no-till and other sustainable agriculture systems
Tuesday, 18 January 2011

Lower costs and favorable environmental effects when using paraquat: these were the key conclusions from a four-year comparison of weed control methods in bananas, recently completed by the University of the Philippines.
The trial was conducted on a commercial plantation on Mindanao, the large southern island of the country. Bananas make a significant contribution to the economy of the Philippines being a major fruit export. New plantations are being established on more sloping land where soil erosion poses a real threat to sustainable production. Filipino authorities estimate...

Paraquat herbicide for non-selective weed control in no-till and other sustainable agriculture systems
Monday, 20 December 2010

Paraquat has been one of the world’s most widely used herbicides since 1962, but over all that time and all those acres of crop and non-crop land, relatively few cases of resistant weeds have been recorded.
The recognised authority for recording all outbreaks of weed resistance (www.weedscience.org) currently states that there are 25 weed species with a total of 43 different paraquat resistant biotypes in 13 countries. These figures include the recent observation of a resistant population of annual ryegrass (...

Paraquat herbicide for non-selective weed control in no-till and other sustainable agriculture systems
Wednesday, 01 December 2010

Bananas are a staple food for 400 million people, grown in 130 countries. Banana plantations are often fragile environments where paraquat plays an important role extending beyond weed control. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation ranks bananas as the world’s fourth most important crop after the major cereals. Bananas provide energy, are fat-free and rich in potassium and vitamins.
Banana plantations can be fragile environments in which soil, water and biodiversity all need special care. Weeds, pests and diseases flourish in tropical climates if unchecked. Integrated pest...

Paraquat herbicide for non-selective weed control in no-till and other sustainable agriculture systems
Friday, 05 November 2010

“Time and tide wait for no man”, so they say. Rice farmers living in coastal areas of South Sumatra, and Central and East Kalimantan in Indonesia know this only too well. Their paddy fields are flooded by river water pushed back up the deltas by each incoming tide. Preparing the land is especially difficult. Not only do weeds grow incredibly vigorously under the swampy conditions, but plowing the land too deeply can result in crop failure. Although the high organic matter topsoil is fertile, below lies a yellow layer of toxic iron pyrite. This is phytotoxic to the rice if...

Paraquat herbicide for non-selective weed control in no-till and other sustainable agriculture systems
Tuesday, 12 October 2010

Visit the new Benefits section of the Paraquat Information Center to see how using paraquat for weed contol brings benefits on the farm, for the environment and in rural communities.
Paraquat has been a valuable tool for farmers all over the world for nearly 50 years. Its speed of action, rainfastness and now its role as a weed resistance fighter are unsurpassed. Paraquat is also unique as a non-selective herbicide in being able to be sprayed between the rows of growing crops without fear of crop damage.
However, paraquat’s importance and benefits go beyond simply...