Seletividade de herbicidas na cultura da batata

Abstract

Weed competition occurs during potato planting and development, demanding for the application of specific herbicides, especially pre-emergent ones. There are few herbicides registered for this crop and the cultivars present different selectivity levels to them. Thus, the study of selectivity and weed management are fundamental for obtaining high yields. This study evaluated the selectivity and weed control with the use of pre-emergent herbicides on potatoes. Two experiments were done in Perdizes-MG, using the cultivar Innovator. The first one was installed on August 2014 to evaluate pre-emergent herbicide selectivity to potatoes. Treatments consisted of a control, a hoed control, metribuzin (240 g ha-1), metribuzin (480 g ha-1), linuron (450 g ha-1), linuron (990 g ha-1), diclosulan (25.2 g ha-1), imazetapir (700 g ha-1), prometrine (1000 g ha-1), clomazone (360 g ha-1), clomazone + carfentrazone (300 + 7.5 g ha-1), clomazone + carfentrazone (600 + 15 g ha-1) and sulfentrazone (125 g ha-1). The second experiment was installed on March 2015 using pre-emergent herbicides to evaluate the control of weeds. Treatments consisted of a control, a hoed control, clomazone (360 g ha-1), metribuzin (480 g ha-1), linuron (990 g ha-1), clomazone + metribuzin (360 + 480 g ha-1), and clomazone + linuron (360 + 990 g ha-1). Both experiments were done as randomized blocks with four replications. Plant vegetative development, phytotoxicity and weed control were evaluated 10 and 30 days after shoot emergence (DAE), while total soluble solids, yield and classification were evaluated after harvest. Averages were compared by the Tukey test at 5% significance. The herbicides evaluated for selectivity, in the first trial, did not affect plant development. The herbicides metribuzin, diclosulan and imazetapir presented high phytotoxicity, lowe soluble solids contents and lower yield, and were considered as less selective. In contrast, the herbicides linuron and clomazone were not phytotoxic, did not affect soluble solids contents and did not cause crop yield reduction, and were considered more selective to this potato cultivar. The herbicides evaluated for weed control, in the second experiment, alone or in association, provided 100% control for the species Eleusine indica and Digitaria horizontalis. The best control of Commelina benghalensis, was obtained with clomazone alone or in association with metribuzin or linuron. Plots treated with clomazone presented phytotoxicity at 10 DAE; however, plants recovered from it at the 30 DAE evaluation. . The greatest yields were observed in treatments with clomazone and metribuzin applied by themselves. However, metribuzin reduced total solids contents, which affects potato industrial yield. Therefore, for this potato cultivar, the herbicides conserved more selective were clomazone and linuron, applied alone or in association.