Less hazardous alternative herbicides to control weeds in immature oil palm |
| |
| Authors: | WAHYU WIBAWA ROSLI MOHAMAD DZOLKHIFLI OMAR ABDUL SHUKOR JURAIMI |
| |
| Institution: | Departments of Crop Science and;Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia |
| |
| Abstract: | In 2002, the Malaysian government had banned the use of the hazardous herbicide, paraquat. Most growers perceive that paraquat is the most effective herbicide and provides the fastest mode of action to control weeds. An experiment was conducted at MAB Agriculture-Horticulture, Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia, from February 2004 to February 2005 to evaluate the efficacy and ability of the less hazardous herbicides, glufosinate ammonium and glyphosate, as an alternative to the hazardous herbicide, paraquat, in controlling weeds in immature oil palm (<3 years old). The results showed that paraquat needed high rates, 600 and 800 g ha?1, to control weeds effectively. However, lower rates of glufosinate ammonium (200 g ha?1) and glyphosate (400 g ha?1) gave excellent weed control. The results showed that the efficacy of glufosinate ammonium and glyphosate were much better than paraquat. The results also showed that, with no direct contact with the plants, paraquat, glufosinate ammonium, and glyphosate had no adverse effect on the vegetative and generative growth of oil palm in this study. These results proved that the less hazardous herbicides, glufosinate ammonium and glyphosate, could be used as an alternative to paraquat to control weeds in immature oil palm. |
| |
| Keywords: | efficacy glufosinate ammonium glyphosate oil palm paraquat |
|
|
