Use of substituted urea herbicides for weed control in Euphorbia lathyris L., a potential fuel-producing crop

Some substituted urea herbicides (chlortoluron, diuron and methabenzthiazuron) were tested for possible use in the cultivation of Euphorbia lathyris L. Diuron showed high phytotoxicity for this species, which was tolerant to chlortoluron and methabenzthiazuron. In preliminary experiments two triazine herbicide (atrazine and simazine) were also used, but both were so toxic to E. lathyris that their use was not continued beyond this stage. In glasshouse experiments, chlortoluron showed slight phytotoxicity to E. lathyris but this did not appear in field experiments. Both chlortoluron and methabenzthiazuron were very efficient against weeds which were present and significantly increased yield of E. lathyris in comparison with unweeded plots. The poor competitive ability of E. lathyris against weeds was confirmed.