Corteva Agriscience presents Elevore, a herbicide based on Arylex technology (halauxifen-methyl), with an innovative site of action among auxin herbicides. It controls fleabane, volunteer soybean, volunteer peanut and grasses, including populations resistant to ALS and glyphosate, without causing carryover.
In a challenging year in climatic terms, the race against weeds demands timely work and effective methods. The growth of resistant populations forces growers to evaluate control mechanisms so as not to buy a problem for the future, without neglecting crop protection.
Fleabane, volunteer soybean, volunteer peanut and grasses all come into play in that tug-of-war, and they can complicate fallow periods. That is why, beyond defining what to control, it is also necessary to evaluate how products are combined and how much time must pass between the application and the entry of the planter.
Against this backdrop, and at the gateway to a promising coarse grain season, Corteva Agriscience proposes its herbicide Elevore, a tool that has already been on the Argentine market for some years and is sustained by its effectiveness. “The exclusivity of Elevore lies in being a strategic and very solid tool for resistance management,” explained agronomist Rafael Frene, crop protection leader at Corteva.
For this development, the company chose the technology of the auxin or hormonal group, among the oldest synthetic herbicides, but with a particular feature: “An innovation in its site of action, which is different from all the rest of the hormonal herbicides available on the market,” Frene explained.
Its technical name is Arylex and its active ingredient is halauxifen-methyl, but the most important thing is what is observed in the field. Elevore, according to Corteva, is characterized by “its excellent performance” in the control of Sumatran fleabane (Conyza sumatrensis), including in populations of this weed that are resistant to ALS herbicides and glyphosate. Its activity does not vary between long, intermediate and short fallow applications.
For that control, the company also presents a combination of its herbicide with glyphosate and methylated soybean oil. The detail of the treatment, evaluated in the trials, is “Panzer Gold 2 l + Elevore 120 cc/ha + methylated soybean oil 1% v/v. 50 DAA (50 days after application)”.
In addition, Elevore stands out for “its great efficacy” in the control of volunteer soybean, both of RR —glyphosate-resistant— technologies and Enlist. And it is known to be effective on volunteer peanut, a weed that is difficult to control because of its latency and staggered germination, which generally demands high doses of glyphosate in the field.
On the management side, this herbicide is characterized by having no “carryover” effect, thanks to its rapid degradation in the soil. “It is an aspect that allows the field to be left open to whatever rotation the grower decides to follow, making it possible to make applications up to three to five days before soybean planting and up to zero days before corn or sunflower planting,” the agronomist noted.
Unlike what happens with 2,4-D, in this case Elevore gets along well with all of them. Fundamentally, the advantage is that it is compatible with the graminicides haloxifop and clethodim, key for the control of resistant grasses in fallows, especially when they are associated with weeds such as fleabane or ryegrass.
“Elevore does not interfere with the activity of haloxifop or clethodim, and it offers excellent compatibility both metabolically and in the tank, which makes it possible to tackle both problems at the same time in a single application, both fleabane and grasses,” the company explained.
The bet, in short, is to add another card to play when weeds complicate the usual controls. For Frene, that possibility of expanding the available tools is one of the main points in favor of the product, which he defines as “a key herbicide for resistance management,” but also with green points on the side of production requirements and costs.
“All these characteristics make Elevore an innovative, latest-generation solution among auxin herbicides, with a very good environmental profile, being effective at a very low amount of active ingredient, non-volatile and with rapid degradation in the soil,” the specialist explained.
The other advantage, according to Frene, appears when some hormonal herbicides stop controlling certain weeds. Given its characteristics, Elevore could remain an alternative against those resistant populations.
