Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 March 2009
Field studies were conducted at Ilorin and Bacita during the 1985–6 cropping season to evaluate the use of hexazinone [3-cyclohexyl-6-(dimethylamino)-l methyl-1, 3, 5-triazine-2, 4(1 H, 3H)-dione] alone, and in combination with diuron [3,(3,4-dichlorophenyl)l-l dimethyl urea] in crops of sugar cane. Hexazinone, alone or in combination with diuron, effectively controlled a broad spectrum of weeds in a loamy sand soil at Ilorin. Most of the herbicide rates used were, however, severely phytotoxic to the crop. On silty clay-loam soils at Bacita, the same herbicide treatments, while giving effective control similar to that obtained at Ilorin, were not phytotoxic to the crop. Weed control effectiveness was influenced by the percentage of organic matter in the soils and by the amount of herbicides used. A broader spectrum of weeds was controlled by the mixture of hexazinone plus diuron than by hexazinone alone. There was no difference between the performance of the tank and formulated mixtures of hexazinone plus diuron.