The pre-emergence herbicide pyroxasulfone has picked up two new mixture registrations in China, one with flufenacet and one with terbuthylazine, widening the options for weed control in the country's wheat and corn fields, AgroPages reported on 18 September.

Zibo NAB Agrochemicals Limited obtained registration for a 40% pyroxasulfone-flufenacet suspension emulsion (10% pyroxasulfone plus 30% flufenacet) to control annual weeds in winter wheat. Shandong Binnong Technology Co. registered a 28% pyroxasulfone-terbuthylazine suspension concentrate (5% pyroxasulfone plus 23% terbuthylazine) for annual weeds in spring corn.

Pyroxasulfone, developed by Japan's Kumiai Chemical Industry, is an isoxazoline herbicide that blocks the synthesis of very-long-chain fatty acids in weeds; it is broad-spectrum, highly active and applied to the soil before crops emerge. Flufenacet, an oxyacetanilide herbicide, is already a common component of pre-emergence weed control and resistance management in Chinese wheat fields, and the combination is reported to control both grass and broadleaf weeds while remaining safe for the crop and the crops that follow.

Terbuthylazine is a triazine herbicide taken up mainly through the roots. Mixed with pyroxasulfone for corn, it is said to improve efficacy, cut application rates and slow the development of resistance.

According to the China Pesticide Information Network, pyroxasulfone registrations in China now total 116, including 42 for technical material. Of the 73 formulation registrations, 57 are single-active products and 16 are mixtures, roughly a fifth; mixtures have only been approved in China since 2025, but more than ten different active ingredients have already been registered in combination with pyroxasulfone.

For growers, the registrations add two ready-made partners for one of the newer soil-applied herbicides; the stated aims of the mixtures are a wider weed spectrum, lower application rates and slower development of resistance.

Source: AgroPages