The role of pendimethalin in the integrated management of propanil-resistant Echinochloa colona in Central America

Pre-emergence activity of pendimethalin on propanil-resistant jungle rice (Echinochloa colona) was demonstrated in glasshouse trials. Both susceptible and resistant populations, collected from Costa Rica, were controlled by 1·25 kg ha^-1, the usual application rate used in the field where Rottboellia cochinchinensis is also a problem. When applied post-emergence, propanil performance was improved by the addition of low doses of pendimethalin to the herbicide mixture. A propanil-resistant selection was controlled by 0·23 kg ha^-1 pendi-methalin+0·54 kg ha^-1 propanil at the one-to-two leaf stage, and 0·23 kg ha^-1 pendimethalin+1·08 kg propanil at the three-to-four leaf stage compared to 1·08 kg and 2·16 kg ha^-1 respectively when propanil was applied alone. This suggests that pendimethalin improves post-emergence control in the field compared to the standard propanil treatment and can provide residual pre-emergence control of late-germinating individuals, so reducing the propanil selection pressure. For effective jungle rice control, growers apply propanil (3·84 kg ha^-1) at 10 and 20 days after planting (DAP) followed by one application of fenoxaprop-P-ethyl (0·045 kg ha^-1) at 35 DAP. Field experiments, conducted in dry-seeded upland rice in southern Costa Rica, demonstrated that under high jungle-rice population pressure, one application of pendimethalin at 1·5 kg ha^-1 provided an effective replacement for propanil, resulting in reduced weed-control costs. ©1997 SCI