BASF announced today that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has registered Kixor herbicide for use on a wide range of crops and effective on more than 70 broadleaf weeds.

The company announced that starting this fall, four formulations powered by Kixor — Sharpen herbicide, OpTill herbicide, Integrity herbicide and Treevix herbicide — will be available to help tackle some of today’s weed control challenges.

“Kixor is a new herbicide technology specifically designed to address pressing weed concerns of today and tomorrow,” says Nevin McDougall, group vice president of BASF North America Crop Protection. “At a time when few new herbicides are being brought to market, BASF has remained steadfast in our commitment to bringing new solutions to growers to help them manage their fields and realize a higher return on the acre. The result is a breakthrough herbicide technology that gives growers a powerful tool in the fight against glyphosate resistance.”

McDougall says Kixor’s unique chemistry is specifically designed to solve growers’ toughest broadleaf weed control challenges across a wide range of crops. It inhibits a key step in chlorophyll biosynthesis, called protoporphyrinogen IX oxidase (PPO), resulting in fast, effective control of broadleaf weeds.

Kixor is derived from a new class of chemistry called the benzoisothiazoles, potent herbicides but with only soil activity and little crop selectivity. Opening the isothiazole ring and optimizing the resulting side chain was key to creating this new breed of PPO inhibitor that possesses high levels of soil and foliar activity on a broad spectrum of broadleaf weeds.

• Kixor is the only herbicide technology in the pyrimidinedione class of chemistry that will be available shortly in the North American market;

• Kixor is labeled for use on a wide range of crops, including corn, grain sorghum, soybeans, cereals, cotton, pulses, sunflower (desiccation), citrus, pome fruit and nut trees and for fallow and post-harvest use;

• Kixor provides broad-spectrum control on more than 70 broadleaf weeds, including those that have become more tolerant of glyphosate, such as common lambsquarters, marestail, Russian thistle, waterhemp, common ragweed and giant ragweed;

• Kixor has shown in approximately 1,700 field trials during 10 years of research and development to deliver superior burndown and soil residual activity.

“Time and time again during our field trials, Kixor demonstrated a unique ability to give growers the rapid burndown and residual qualities they need to eliminate weed competition, grow healthy crops and improve yield,” says Dan Westberg, technical market manager for BASF.

Following is a summary of several herbicides that will be available to growers as a result of the Kixor label registration.

Sharpen herbicide, powered by Kixor, tackles tough broadleaf weeds in a number of crops, including cereals, corn, cotton, fallow, grain sorghum, pulses, soybeans and sunflower (desiccation). Field and row crop research has shown that Sharpen provides excellent burndown control when applied pre-plant and pre-emergence. In field trials, Sharpen controlled weeds three to five times faster than 2,4-D or glyphosate. Sharpen also offers pre-plant interval flexibility, which provides growers with fast, flexible burndown of broadleaf weeds across a wide range of crops.

OpTill herbicide is a combination of Kixor plus imazethapyr. This product offers fast, complete burndown plus residual weed control in soybeans, chickpeas and peas when applied pre-plant through pre-emergence. OpTill controlled weeds three to five times faster than 2,4-D or glyphosate in field trials. It also offers pre-plant interval flexibility. OpTill combines fast burndown and residual weed control to allow better timing for in-crop glyphosate applications.

Integrity herbicide combines Kixor and dimethenamid-p, which together create a broad-spectrum herbicide for weed control in corn. Integrity has fewer use restrictions than atrazine, provides ease of handling with its low use rate and offers burndown and residual control, all in one product. Integrity takes care of yield-robbing broadleaf weeds and grass with one efficient product.

BASF will produce Kixor exclusively at its Hannibal, Mo., plant for worldwide distribution. Growers can place pre-orders for the 2010 growing season with retailers beginning in the fourth quarter.