White bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) tolerance to preplant-incorporated herbicides

There is a limited number of registered herbicides in white beans. Field trials were conducted at two Ontario, Canada, locations (Exeter and Ridgetown) in 2001 and 2002 to evaluate tolerance of two white bean cultivars, AC Compass and OAC Thunder, to preplant-incorporated applications of S -metolachlor plus imazethapyr (1600 + 75 and 3200 + 150 g ai ha⁻¹, respectively), flumetsulam plus S -metolachlor ( premixed at 1443 and 2886 g ai ha⁻¹) and cloransulam-methyl (35 and 70 g ai ha⁻¹). There were no differences between the two cultivars in their responses to the herbicide treatments. S -metolachlor plus imazethapyr caused as much as 5% visual crop injury and decreased plant height up to 20%, shoot dry weight up to 39% and yield as much as 21%. Flumetsulam plus S -metolachlor caused as much as 7% visual crop injury and reduced plant height by up to 25%, shoot dry weight by up to 46% and yield as much as 24%. Cloransulam-methyl caused as much as 10% visual crop injury and decreased plant height up to 35%, shoot dry weight up to 55% and yield as much as 44%. There were no differences in seed moisture content among any of the herbicide treatments. This research suggests that the margin of safety of white bean is inadequate to support the preplant-incorporated registration of S -metolachlor plus imazethapyr, flumetsulam plus S -metolachlor and cloransulam-methyl in Ontario.