The Environmental Protection Agency has granted a Section 3 registration for quizalofop-P-ethyl, the active ingredient in Provisia herbicide from BASF Corp., for use on Provisia rice. State registrations are pending.
As part of the registration, the EPA will require that the registrant develop an agreement that each user must agree to and sign similar to a binding contract. The agency also will require that the registrant develop herbicide resistance best management practices and promote those through grower education programs.
“What we are going to provide is multiple methods for growers to be trained on stewardship,” says Nick Fassler, market manager, rice, for BASF, which will market Provisia.
Part of the agreement contains strong language about not planting Provisia rice back to back in the same field. For growers who want to grow more than one rice crop before rotating to soybeans, he says they could plant Provisia the first year, followed by Clearfield rice the second year.
Then because of residual herbicide carryover, growers would have to rotate to soybeans the third year. The rotation out of rice also would bring in new herbicide modes of action to help reduce the chances of herbicide resistance from developing.
In addition, the registration requires an annual producer survey be conducted to ensure users are complying with stewardship agreements. The survey also will examine whether performance issues have been encountered and how growers responded.
In trials, Fassler said a two-shot Provisia program worked the best. Growers start with a pre-emergent herbicide as they typically would for any rice crop. Then prior to flood, they would apply one application of Provisia, followed 10 days to two weeks later by a second one to pick up escapes or later-germinating grasses.
Provisia only targets grasses, including red rice, weedy rice, outcrosses and F2 hybrids. So growers will need to apply other herbicides, either as a tankmix or sequentially, to control sedges and broadleaf weeds. Through testing, BASF has already identified several tankmix partners as well as a handful of products that could antagonize Provisia and reduce its effectiveness.
BASF has targeted the 2018 season for launch of the Provisia rice system. Obtaining a full registration was the first big hurdle, Fassler says. That opens up opportunities to grow seed increase fields during the 2017 season.
See related story: New rice herbicide, crop outlook featured at LSU AgCenter grower meetings