CLEARFIELD^® PLUS your key to an alternative weed control strategy

Corne van der Westhuizen, Agronomist, Northwest, Pannar Seed
Contact details: 082 570 8240 of corne.vanderwesthuyzen@pannar.co.za

Clearfield^® Plus technology offers farmers an alternative solution for controlling weeds while benefiting from economic, time and yield gains. The Clearfield^® Production System combines high-yielding sunflower hybrids with broad-spectrum herbicides with a different mode of action that delivers efficient, long-lasting weed control, crop quality and good yield potential. BASF introduced the successful Clearfield^® Production System in South Africa in 2009, and it is now an essential component of sunflower production.

Clearfield^® Plus sunflowers are classified as non-transgenic. The inherent herbicide resistance is a natural mutation, and the hybrids are not genetically modified. All sunflower hybrids with Clearfield^® Plus trait are GMO-free. The original Clearfield trait in sunflowers is based on a natural acetohydroxy acid synthase (AHAS) mutation discovered in 1996 in a wild sunflower growing in a soybean field in the United States. The Clearfield^® Plus Production System for sunflower delivers important agronomic benefits to both seed companies and crop producers including:

• Crop rotation – employing a suitable crop rotation helps control weeds in two ways. Different crops with different lifecycles, particularly mixing summer and winter crops, helps break the lifecycle of weeds and reduces the return of weed seeds to the soil weed bank. Crops from different plant families allow for different herbicide groups and modes of action to be used, making weed control easier and more effective. An additional benefit of a crop rotation system that allows herbicides with different modes of action to be used, helps to reduce the incidence of weed herbicide resistance.
• Superior breeding efficiency - Clearfield^® Plus sunflowers involve only a single gene without an enhancer or “E” Factor. BASF has developed diagnostic methods to detect the Clearfield^® Plus trait, which makes breeding easier and more efficient.
• Greater herbicide tolerance - allows producers to use more active adjuvants or improved formulations, which provide greater weed control in situations where there is either high weed pressure or the presence of difficult-to-control weeds. Clearfield^® Plus sunflowers have also shown significantly greater tolerance to Clearfield herbicides under a wide range of environmental and genotype differences on a variety of soil types. Clearfield^® Plus sunflowers have demonstrated very high herbicide tolerance and exceptional agronomic performance under arid growing conditions.
• Improved weed control - the advantages include post emergence broadleaf weed control; a wider spectrum of weed control; a higher level of consistency; greater flexibility in the timing of herbicide applications; long-lasting weed control, often requiring only one pass. Rainfall is not required to activate the herbicide. Higher crop tolerance with less variation delivers peace of mind, allowing producers to plant their Clearfield^® Plus hybrids across a wider range of environments.
• Potential for higher grain yield - Clearfield^® Plus sunflower hybrids yield very well compared to conventional hybrids. The improved grain yield can be a direct result of improved weed control and enhanced crop tolerance of the Clearfield^® Plus trait.

Pannar markets high yield potential hybrids with the Clearfield^® Plus trait. The Pannar^® brand sunflower hybrid package performs well in all sunflower production regions of South Africa. With five hybrids in the top ten of the 2020/2021 ARC national trials, you can be assured that you are planting some of the leading genetics available on the market.

The Pannar^® brand sunflower package with the Clearfield^® Plus trait (suffix CLP) provides good, stable performance with good risk management to help sustain your farming operation. The Euro-Lightning^® Plus herbicide provides effective post-emergence control of a variety of broadleaf weeds and grasses and delivers consistent post-emergence efficacy against broadleaf weeds, due to better retention and adhesion of active matters.

Pannar^® brand hybrids with the Clearfield^® Plus trait are only registered for the use of Euro-Lightning^® Plus herbicide (Reg. No. L10316)! Pannar do not support the use of any other post-emergent herbicide on our CLP hybrids that has not been tested or proven in official qualification trials.

Clearfield^® Plus Herbicide Programme:

• For successful control, apply at the 2-6 leaf stage of weeds. The timing of Euro-Lightning should be completed by 32 days after planting.
• Prior to the use of Euro-Lightning^® Plus, spray tanks, booms and nozzles must be thoroughly cleaned and decontaminated of all previous spray residues.
• Poor water quality: only use a flowable (50%) high quality ammonium sulphate at a 2% dilution to ameliorate the water before adding Euro-Lightning^® Plus. Do not use any additional wetters, spreader or other adjuvants. Do not mix with organophosphate or carbamate insecticides.
• • Soil application: 2 litres Euro-Lightning^® Plus at 250 litres (l) water/hectare (ha).

Table: Euro-Lightning^® Plus Herbicide recommended waiting periods

Always follow grain marketing, stewardship practices and herbicide label directions. Clearfield^® Plus Sunflower hybrids are tolerant to Euro-Lightning^® Plus herbicide and this is indicated by the letters “CLP” in the seed product code. Other crops, including conventional sunflower hybrids that do not contain the Clearfield^® Plus trait or have confirmed imazapyr tolerance will be severely damaged if unregistered imazapyr-based herbicides are applied.