Accurately Predicting a Herbicide's Potential

Abstract

Field screening methods were developed which proved very reliable in accurately assessing the potential of herbicides during the first year of testing. Under conditions imposed by these methods, the herbicides usually exhibited maximum toxicity, thereby indicating which ones might be potentially hazardous in growers' fields when crop tolerance is lowered by adverse growing conditions. Of the 29 crop uses suggested by the data, 16 are registered by the USDA and are now in current use. Of these 29, 26 were indicated during the first year of testing and substantiated by data from an additional 1 to 4 years of testing.