Bayer Huskie® herbicide

Bayer CropScience has received the first regulatory approval for its new cereal herbicidal active ingredient pyrasulfotole from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States. Huskie® will be available in good time for the spring season 2008. Further registrations are expected in Canada and Australia later in the course of 2007. Huskie® contains active ingredients pyrasulfotole and tembotrione.

Pyrasulfotole: One innovative mode of action - triple effect. It is the first HPPD (4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase) inhibitor for cereals in North America. Pyrasulfotole offers the farmer excellent performance against a broad spectrum of broad-leaved weeds. Huskie® can be used as part of an effective resistance management program to control sulfonylurea-resistant weeds. The new product will also help the farmer to optimize cereal production.

The new mode of action developed by Bayer CropScience works by interrupting three crucial processes during the growth stage of weeds. Firstly, pyrasulfotole blocks the plant's ability to generate an adequate supply of energy by photosynthesis. Secondly, it restricts the weed’s ability to produce vitamin E, which protects biological membranes against oxidative stresses and the photosynthetic apparatus against photoinactivation. As a result, so-called free radicals destroy the weed from the inside.

Furthermore, pyrasulfotole prevents carotenoid production, i.e. the weed loses the shield that protects chlorophyll molecules from UV rays and excess light. As there is nothing to stop sunlight from penetrating deep into the leaves, the chlorophyll is destroyed: the weed dies.

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