herbicide / aclonifen / bentazone / synergie / gaillet Summary — Joint action of aclonifen and bentazone applied with or without formulation. Bioassays were carried out with cleavers plants treated with aclonifen and bentazone, in controlled conditions. The active ingredients were applied alone, as a mixture, dissolved in acetone/water, or as their commercial formulations (Challenge 600 and Basagran). The efficacy of mixtures was evaluated with 2 methods. One used a factorial design and calculated an additivity of effects. The other worked from response curves and was able to calculate an additivity of effects or an additivity of doses. When aclonifen and bentazone were mixed in a ratio of 1.25, an antagonism was detected at low doses and a synergism at high doses. The formulated products, mixed in the same ratio, gave the same types of effects. However, the synergism of the formulated products was stronger than that of the active ingredients and focused on the high doses inducing the death of plants. Thus, the efficacy of the formulated products would add the synergistic effect of active ingredients and a crossed effect of formulation agents.