South Korea Approves Bayer’s Rice Herbicide Council

Posted by Jackie Pucci|20 May 2014

South Korea has granted regulatory approval for Bayer CropScience´s rice herbicide Council, which is scheduled for launch in 2015.

Other major rice-growing countries in Asia are expected to follow as a measure to further strengthen Bayer’s crop protection portfolio in the region, it said.

“Smallholder rice farmers play a key role in the production process of this important staple crop. To secure their harvests and increase rice production, they need modern technologies such as improved rice varieties and innovative crop protection products,“ said Tobias Marchand, head of the crop protection region Asia Pacific at Bayer. “Our new rice herbicide Council will contribute substantially to improved integrated weed management.” In view of the growing importance of rice as a staple food, weeds in rice fields represent a threat to the global food supply.

Council is based on two innovative active ingredients, triafamone and tefuryltrione. Triafamone is a new selective herbicidal substance which can be effectively used in direct seeded or transplanted rice from seeding or transplanting to late post-emergence timings using spray or granular formulations. Its mode of action is inhibition of the enzyme acetolactate synthase (ALS). Triafamone controls a variety of important weeds, including millet and grass species, and is also suitable for pre-emergence application. Another advantage for the rice grower is improved flexibility because triafamone will be available in several low-dose mixtures and co-formulations.

The second component, tefuryltrione, is a new hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD)-inhibitor. This mode of action blocks the formation of carotenoids (accessory pigments) that protects chlorophyll in the plant and ultimately results in a characteristic bleaching of the plant tissue. Tefuryltrione is very effective in controlling sulfonylurea (SU) herbicide resistant weeds that are increasing in Korean paddy fields.