Vol.4, No.12, 649-653 (2013) Agricultural Sciences http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/as.2013.412087 Copyright © 2013 SciRes. OPEN ACCESS Response of cranberry and kidney beans to linuron Nader Soltani*, Christy Shropshire, Peter H. Sikkema University of Guelph Ridgetown Campus, Ridgetown, Canada; * Corresponding Author: soltanin@uoguelph.ca Received 24 June 2013; revised 15 November 2013; accepted 28 November 2013 Copyright © 2013 Nader Soltani et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT Field studies were conducted in 2009 and 2010 at the Huron Research Station, Exeter, Ontario and the University of Guelph Ridgetown Cam- pus, Ridgetown, Ontario to determine the toler- ance of four cultivars of cranberry bean (“Etna”, “Hooter”, “SVM Taylor”, and “Capri”) and four cultivars of kidney bean (“Red Hawk”, “Pink Panther”, “Calmont”, and “Majesty”) to linuron applied preemergence at 1125 and 2250 g·ai·ha −1 . One week after emergence (WAE), linuron ap- plied PRE caused 0.4% to 1.2% injury in “Etna”, “Hooter”, “SVM Tayler”, and “Capri” cranberry bean and 3.1% to 3.6% injury in “Red Hawk”, “Pink Panther”, “Calmont”, and “Majesty” kid- ney bean. At 2 and 4 WAE, there was no differ- ence in injury among the dry bean cultivars. Contrast comparing injury due to linuron in cranberry vs kidney bean cultivars indicated 2.3%, 1.7%, and 1.2% greater injury in kidney bean compared to cranberry bean at 1, 2, and 4 WAE, respectively. Linuron PRE caused slightly greater injury in kidney bean compared to cran- berry bean but crop injury was minimal with no adverse effect on plant height, shoot dry weight, seed moisture content, and yield under the en- vironments evaluated. Based on this research, linuron applied PRE at the proposed rate of 1125 g·ai·ha −1 can be safely used in cranberry and kidney beans in Ontario. Keywords: Cranberry Bean; Height; Injury; Seed Moisture; Kidney Bean; Yield 1. INTRODUCTION Canada, a major producer of dry bean, produces nearly 10% of the world’s dry bean valued at $226 million dol- lars annually [1]. Ontario, one the leading provinces in Canada in dry bean production, produces 129,000 MT of dry bean with a farm-gate value of approximately $90 million [2]. Major market classes of dry bean grown in Ontario include black, cranberry, kidney, and white (navy) bean. Dry bean is a short season crop with short physical stature and therefore is very sensitive to weed interfer- ence [3-7]. Dry bean seed yield has been reduced as much as 70% due to weed interference [8]. Presence of weeds at the harvest time can also cause seed staining and interfere with harvesting efficiency in dry bean [9- 12]. There are few herbicides registered for broadleaf weed control in dry bean in Ontario. Imazethapyr is the only soil applied herbicide for annual broadleaf weed control. Imazethapyr can cause significant dry bean injury under some environmental conditions and provides marginal control of common ragweed (Ambrosiaartemisiifolia L.) and common lambsquarters (Chenopodium album L.). More research is needed to identify new herbicide op- tions that provide consistent broadleaf weed control and have adequate margin of crop safety in various cultivars within different market classes of dry bean. Linuron is a substituted urea herbicide registered for use in a number of crops including corn and soybean [13]. Linuron is readily absorbed through roots following a soil application [14]. Linuron applied pre-emergence (PRE) controls many broadleaf weeds such as velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti Medicus), redwood pigweed (Ama- ranthus retroflexus L.), common lambsquarters (Cheno- podium album L.), common ragweed (Ambrosiaartemisi- ifolia L.), common chickweed [Stellaria media (L.) Cyrillo], field pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.), prostrate knotweed (Polygonum arenastrum L.), purslane (Portu- laca oleracea L.), shepherd’s purse [Capsella bursa-pas- toris (L.) Medic.], smartweed (Polygonum spp.), annual sowthistle (Sonchus oleraceus L.), wild buckwheat (Po- lygonum convovulus L.) and wormseed mustard (Ery- simum cheiranthoides L.), including acetolactate syn- thase- and triazine-resistant biotypes [13-15]. Linuron is