The herbicides Cintac and Niantic have been granted an approval of an Extension of Authorisation for Minor Use (EAMU) registration for use in rye
This EAMU approval will come as welcome news as recent withdrawals and changes to labels have narrowed down chemical choices for grassweed control in the crop.
Atlantis WG and Pacifica are no longer available, so there have been limited options for controlling black-grass, rye-grass, annual and rough stalked meadow grass and brome species in rye.
Produced by off-patent manufacturer Life Scientific, Niantic is a reverse-engineered Atlantis WG (30g/kg mesosulfuron-methyl + 6g/kg iodosulfuron-methyl-sodium methyl-sodium) while Cintac is a reverse-engineered Pacifica (30g/kg mesosulfuron-methyl + 10g/kg iodosulfuron-methyl-sodium).
“These new approvals come at a time when rye is really seeing a resurgence of interest on UK arable farms,” Life Scientific’s country manager, Ruth Stanley, said. “In 1990 there was only about 8,000ha of rye grown which has almost tripled in area in 2020 to nearly 20,000ha.
“This area is expected to rise even further as growers look at alternative cropping options and new markets are found,” she added. “Much of this increase is based on rye fitting into the second cereal position in place of wheat or barley. Rye is take-all tolerant, so is good for the second cereal position as the disease won’t affect yield.
“This is down to its very vigorous root system, and this root mass also means it’s drought tolerant and can also cope in a hard winter.”
Mrs Stanley also said its comparably high yields combined with being cheaper to grow than second wheat or winter barley means its gross margins are more attractive.
“A large area is now also grown for anaerobic digestion, which has seen a rapid increase during the past 10 years,” she added.” Rye flour is also of increasing interest.”
The EAMUs for Niantic and Cintac can be downloaded from the HSE’s Chemicals Regulation Division website at: www.hse.gov.uk/pesticides/
