María F Martínez-Rivera1, Carolina Zamorano-Montañez2, Eduardo Dávila3 and María A Jiménez-Aguirre1,2
1Aplicaña la Virginia SAS, Colombia; mariajimenez.aguirre@gmail.com
2Universidad de Caldas, Colombia
3Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia, Colombia
Herbicide damage in sugarcane crops can cause leaf chlorosis, leaf necrosis and, in some cases, retardation of crop growth and decreased sugarcane yield. We evaluated the effect of three biostimulants (T1: hormone mobilizer + micronutrients, T2: amino acids + gibberellic acid (GA) + micronutrients, T3: algae + GA + micronutrients, T0: control with no biostimulants) in combination with the conventional herbicide formula (diuron 1600 g ai ha⁻¹, ametryn 1000 g ai ha⁻¹, amine 1080 g ai ha⁻¹, mesotrione 144 g ai ha⁻¹ and terbutryn 500 g ai ha⁻¹). Weed control, sugarcane phytotoxicity and sugarcane growth were evaluated. Use of biostimulants did not affect the efficacy of the herbicide mixture against grasses, broadleaves or sedges. In addition, T1 significantly reduced phytotoxicity by 99.3%. Reductions in phytotoxicity were also noted for T2 and T3 compared with the control. The addition of these biostimulants also resulted in increased number of stalks, plant height, number of internodes and leaf area. The results indicate that the integration of these biostimulants can improve the ability of CC01-1940 to detoxify the mixture of diuron, ametryn, amine, mesotrione and terbutryn.