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Department of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries
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  Evaluation of Herbicides for Weed Control in Borage




G.L. Graham1, A. Smith1 and P. Scott2


Abstract: Borage (Borago officinalis) is a potential new oilseed crop for New Brunswick producers. Lack of herbicide options within borage production has been mentioned as a major limiting factor to commercial production of this crop. A trial was initiated near Richmond Corner, NB to evaluate in-crop herbicides for control of weeds in borage. Linuron, imazethapyr, s-metolachlor, clopyralid and glyphosate showed crop injury at the rates and timings evaluated. Trifluralin and sethoxydim were the only treatments which did not cause significant borage injury by the final rating. High levels of crop injury were shown in the glyphosate treatment because the application timing was late for a pre-emergent treatment. Glyphosate offered the highest level of weed control throughout the season, showing that the removal of early weed competition allowed the borage crop to be competitive with later emerging weeds. Trifluralin gave the best combination of weed control and borage tolerance within this experiment. Crop tolerance was excellent for sethoxydim, but weed control ratings were low due to a lack of grassy weeds within the plots (less than 5% of the treatment area). Additional treatments and timings should be evaluated for this crop, with the pre-emergent window offering the most promise for control from a commercial standpoint.


1NB Department of Agriculture and Aquaculture, Crop Development Branch, P. O. Box 6000, Fredericton, NB, E3B 5H1
2Potato Development Centre, NB Department of Agriculture and Aquaculture, 39 Barker Lane Wicklow,  NB E7L 3S4

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