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OMAFRA: Understand herbicide carryover risk with soil bioassays

Knowing a field’s planting and herbicide history is an important factor when determining whether certain crops can follow others in rotation. Given the drought in certain parts of Canada and the excess moisture in others during 2021, herbicide carryover is a risk to consider.

Kristen Obeid, horticulture weed management specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), asks growers to consider testing for herbicide residues with a soil bioassay. She explains that “a bioassay uses susceptible plants to identify if the herbicide is present in concentrations high enough to inhibit germination and/or alter plant growth,” and notes that it can be completed easily and cheaply through a lab or by the grower/their consultant. |READ MORE