Two experiments were carried out to evaluate elephant-grass tolerance to different herbicides sprayed alone or in mixtures in pre- and post-emergence crop conditions, and to evaluate the efficiency of these products in controlling B. decumbens and other weeds infesting the elephantgrass crops. Herbicide treatments evaluated in the experiment installed in pre-emergence of the crop, in kg ha-1 were: metolachlor (1.152; 2.304 and 3.456), oxyfluorfen (0.48; 0.96 and 1.44) and atrazine + metolachlor (1,25; 2,50; e 3,75), plus the controls, in three repetitions; The herbicide treatments evaluated in the experiment installed in post-emergence conditions, in kg ha-1, were: ametryne (1.25; 2.50 and 3.75) and oxyfluorfen (0.48; 0.96 and 1.44), in four repetitions. The treatments were distributed in randomized blocks in both experiments, with added as treatments (weeded and weed-free), using the elephant-grass cultivars Cameroon and Pioneer. Herbicides in post-emergence were applied on the cultivar plant tops, at 20 days after planting, and in the pre-emergence experiment, one day after planting, and the soil was wet at the moment of herbicide application. Metolachlor, atrazine + metolachlor and oxyfluorfen applied in pre-emergence were selective for Pioneer and Cameroon cultivars. Ametryne and oxyfluorfen were also selective for cultivars when sprayed in post-emergence conditions. Because of initial damages to the crop, oxyfluorfen application in the dose of 1.44 kg ha-1, as well as, in pre- and post-emergence of the crop, combined with ametryne application in the dose of 3.75 kg ha-1 in post-emergence, must be avoided. B. decumbens and B. brizantha were controlled in 90.9% in pre-emergence, when intermediate and higher doses of the herbicides were used. Dicotyledonous plant control was 85% with metolachlor, atrazine + metalachlor and oxyfluorfen, except when the lowest doses were applied. In pre-emergence application, ametryne doses of 2.50 and 3.75 kg ha-1 and oxyfluorfen in the three doses studied provided a control level over 90% in B. decumbens, B. brizantha, S. glaziovii and S. urens, while D. tortuosum, and A. australe control was over 77.9%. In either pre- or in post-emergence application, residual effect of weed control was up to 90 days after application. Treatments with pre-emergence herbicides were 36.2% higher in cultivar height evaluated in pre-emergence and 34.7% higher in height in post-emergence, than the treatment weeded. As for above ground shoot dry matter accumulation, cultivars presented mean earnings of 48.8% in the treatments with pre-emergence herbicides and of 61.9% in post-emergence herbicides, compared to weeded. The cultivar Pioneer was more tolerant to weed interference than the cultivar Cameroon.
selectivity; efficiency; weeds; elephant-grass
