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Accepted manuscript

Alternatives to Glyphosate for Spring Preplant Foliar Weed Management

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 February 2026

Brock A. Dean*
Affiliation:
Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Charles W. Cahoon
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
David L. Jordan
Affiliation:
William Neal Reynolds Professor, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Zachary R. Taylor
Affiliation:
Research Specialist, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Jose H.S. de Sanctis
Affiliation:
Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Jacob C. Forehand
Affiliation:
Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Brock A. Dean; Email: badean@ncsu.edu
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Abstract

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An experiment was conducted in 2022 and 2023 at multiple locations in North Carolina to identify alternative herbicide combinations capable of providing effective preplant foliar weed control when glyphosate is unavailable. All combinations containing rimsulfuron + thifensulfuron provided 95% to 98% control of henbit, comparable to all glyphosate-based combinations. Treatments containing glyphosate achieved 100% control of common chickweed, and rimsulfuron + thifensulfuron combined with clethodim (90%) or 2,4-D (89%) were the only treatments that provided comparable control. Paraquat effectively controlled henbit and common chickweed, providing 91% and 87% control of these species, respectively. Although no treatment controlled annual bluegrass as effectively as glyphosate-based mixtures, paraquat alone, paraquat + 2,4-D, and clethodim + rimsulfuron + thifensulfuron each achieved ≥ 88% control. Saflufenacil was highly efficacious on purple cudweed, providing control comparable to glyphosate (≥ 97%). Tiafenacil alone provided limited control of most of the weed species evaluated in this study, but showed compatibility in mixtures, suggesting utility within diversified preplant foliar herbicide programs targeting specific weeds. While glyphosate remains available for use, incorporating one or more of these herbicides could enhance control of glyphosate-resistant weed biotypes and reduce selection pressure on glyphosate-susceptible weeds. Overall, rimsulfuron + thifensulfuron, paraquat, saflufenacil, tiafenacil, and clethodim, applied alone or in combination, offer practical preplant foliar options that can strengthen existing glyphosate-based programs and sustain effective winter annual weed control should glyphosate become limited or unavailable.

Information

Type
Research Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2026. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Weed Science Society of America