EPA, California register Butte herbicide

Butte herbicide logoThe Environmental Protection Agency as well as the California Department of Pesticide Registration have registered Butte herbicide for California water-seeded rice.

The herbicide is a premix of benzobicyclon, a mode of action, and halosulfuron-methyl, marketed as Sandea in California. The Weed Science Society of America classifies benzobicyclon as a Group 27, whereas halosulfuron is a Group 2 ALS inhibitor.

Butte is a granular herbicide that controls a broad range of broadleaf, grass and sedge weeds, according to a news release. It is designed as an early season treatment in an integrated weed control program.

Butte will be available in limited supplies to treat about 50,000 acres for the 2017 season. The University of California has been working with Gowan Co. to research the material for several years. Trials involving the herbicide are scheduled to be shown to growers during the annual California Rice Field Day, Aug. 30, at Biggs.

Gowan Co. of Yuma, Ariz., along with partners SDS Biotech K.K. and Nissan Chemical Industries, both of Tokyo, developed the herbicide. Benzobicyclon already is used for weed control in Asian rice fields.

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