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Abstract
The herbicide nicosulfuron is an important tool for weed control in maize crops; however, its incorrect use can cause yield losses to crops due to its high toxicity. The objective of this work was to evaluate the efficiency of using herbicide safener to increase selectivity of nicosulfuron to maize crops. The experiment was conducted in field conditions, and the treatments consisted of dose-response curves, using nicosulfuron at rates of 0, 15, 30, 45, and 60 g ha-1, applied with safener and/or malathion to maize crops at the V5-V6 stage. The use of organophosphorus insecticides such as malathion decrease the selectivity of nicosulfuron to maize crops. Rates of up to 60 g ha-1 were selective to the maize crops when using nicosulfuron or nicosulfuron + safener. However, plant height decreased 0.19 and 0.91 cm for each gram of nicosulfuron in the treatments nicosulfuron + safener + malathion, and nicosulfuron + malathion, respectively, at 28 days after the application. The phytotoxicity increased 0.19% and 0.97% in the treatments nicosulfuron + safener + malathion and nicosulfuron + malathion, respectively. The number of grains per row and grain yield were affected by the treatments with nicosulfuron + malathion, presenting decreases of 0.09 grains and 52 kg ha-1, respectively. Thus, adding safener to the herbicide mixture increases the selectivity of nicosulfuron to maize crops, decreases damages regarding plant height and phytotoxicity, and prevents effects of the herbicide on the number of grains per row and grain yield, up to the rate of 60 g ha-1.
Highlights
Maize (Zea mays L.) is the main energy ingredient in animal diets, mainly for non-ruminants; 70% to 80% of the maize produced is intended to feed production for animal protein production (Alves et al, 2015)
The herbicide nicosulfuron is an important tool for weed control in maize crops; its incorrect use can cause yield losses to crops due to its high toxicity
Considering that the same nicosulfuron rates were used for all dose-response curves, all differences between treatments are assumed to be due to the presence or absence of safener and/or insecticide malathion
Summary
Maize (Zea mays L.) is the main energy ingredient in animal diets, mainly for non-ruminants; 70% to 80% of the maize produced is intended to feed production for animal protein production (Alves et al, 2015). Herbicide and insecticide can be applied simultaneously in post-emergence, which made this tank mixture practice frequent due to the lower application cost; mixtures of nicosulfuron with organophosphorus insecticides, such as malathion, can reduce the herbicide selectivity to crops, causing yield losses (Maciel et al, 2018). Organophosphorus insecticides reduce the maize tolerance to herbicides of the sulfonylurea group by inhibiting cytochrome P450 monooxygenase enzymes (Kreuz & Fronn-Pfister, 1992). This enzyme complex is abundant in maize plants and is responsible for metabolization and detoxification of chemical toxic compounds (Skipsey et al, 2011), such as the herbicide nicosulfuron (Nelson & Werck-Reichhart, 2011; Liu et al, 2019)
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