Poor competitive ability and limited herbicide options make weed management of Brassica crops difficult. Growers often adopt the use of transplants, which is less efficient in terms of time, material, and labor when compared with direct seeding, resulting in higher prices per unit. Seed treatment with protective compounds could decrease crop injury from preemergent (PRE) herbicides making it profitable to direct-seed Brassica plants for production. Research was conducted to evaluate the ability of three candidate safeners [24-epibrassinolide, melatonin, and ascorbic acid (AsA)] to reduce injury caused by four herbicides (S-metolachlor, pyroxasulfone, halosulfuron, and mesotrione) applied PRE on the collard green cultivar Top Bunch and turnip cultivar Purple Top White Globe. Two independent greenhouse trials were conducted at the Clemson University Coastal Research and Education Center in Charleston, SC. Visual injury of the treated plants was evaluated weekly and dry mass was collected 21 days after treatment. Seed treatment did not reduce injury efficiently caused by pyroxasulfone, halosulfuron, and mesotrione; all doses were lethal for both crops. However, collard seeds treated using melatonin and AsA had 66% and 54% less injury caused by S-metolachlor at 514 g⋅ha–1 a.i., respectively. On turnips, melatonin was the only treatment that reduced the S-metolachlor damage on seedlings, with 43% less injury than untreated seedlings. Plant injury and plant weight correlated significantly for both Brassica crops. The reduction in injury caused by S-metolachlor when seeds were treated with melatonin and AsA validated those compounds’ protective ability. Seed treatment with melatonin could be combined with PRE applications of S-metolachlor to overcome the low weed competitive ability of these species early in the season.
