A laboratory experiment was conducted to compare the adsorption and desorption of fluometuron between two soils, one collected from an eastern gamagrass filter strip and the other from a cropped field. Fluometuron adsorption to soil collected from the filter strip was higher than to soil collected from the cropped field. Kd values for fluometuron ranged from 1.9 to 3.6 for soil from a cropped area, compared with 2.9 to 5.3 for soil from the filter strip, indicating a weak to moderate binding affinity for fluometuron. The total fluometuron desorbed ranged from 48 to 79% of that adsorbed, most of which (50 to 59% of the total amount desorbed) occurred during the first desorption cycle with both soils. Approximately 11% less fluometuron desorbed when a filter strip was present. Results indicate that eastern gamagrass filter strips can influence adsorption–desorption processes between fluometuron and a Brooksville silty clay soil by altering the soil properties, specifically soil organic matter.

The herbicide mixture 2-chloro-4-(ethylamino)-6-(isopropylamino)-s-triazine (atrazine) + 2-chloro-N-isopropylacetanilide (propachlor) was applied preemergence broadcast and in band widths of 18, 36, and 53-cm to corn (Zea mays L.). All herbicide treatments were applied as 1.1 kg of atrazine + 2.7 kg of propachlor per treated hectare. One row-middle cultivation and one rotary hoeing were also imposed on the herbicide treatments as variables. The 18-cm band of atrazine + propachlor with supplementary cultivation was as effective in controlling weed growth and maintaining corn yield as were wider herbicide bands or a broadcast treatment. Broadcast treated corn without row-middle cultivation produced significantly less grain than the handweeded check both years of the experiment. The average ratio of weed dry weight to reduction in corn yield was 0.8 to 1. Cultivation of row middles reduced average end-of-season weed yields 80%. Cultivator effectiveness on an 18-cm herbicide band equalled that measured on wider herbicide bands. Rotary hoeing reduced early season weed yields 82 and 38% in 1970 and 1971, respectively.

Our objective was to evaluate the cost/benefit of a single herbicide application or targeted grazing of invasive annual grasses during restoration of partially invaded sagebrush steppe ecosystems used for livestock production. The cost/benefit model used is based on estimating the production of vegetation in response to implementing management and modeling cost/benefit economics associated with that prediction. The after-tax present value of added animal unit months (AUMs) obtained was lower than the present value of after-tax treatment costs after 20 yr for a single herbicide treatment, but higher than the present value of after-tax treatment costs for the grazing management scenario. Even at the highest weed utilization level, the value of added AUMs did not offset the cost of the treatment after 20 yr. However, the grazing treatment resulted in a value of added AUMs higher than the costs after 20 yr. Depending on the invasive weed utilization level, break-even points with targeted grazing occurred at anywhere from the first year to 7 yr. This assessment clearly shows that grazing management can be economically viable for managing annual grass-infested rangeland. In the future, models like the one used here can be improved by incorporating the rangeland management and restoration benefits on the wide variety of goods and services gained from rangeland.

Itchgrass is an aggressive weed species in tropical agroecosystems. Because of phytosanitary restrictions to exports, pineapple producers must use a zero tolerance level for this species. An understanding of itchgrass seedling emergence would help producers to better time POST control. The objective of the present study was to characterize itchgrass seedling emergence patterns and develop a predictive model. Multiple field experiments were conducted in four agricultural fields in Costa Rica between 2010 and 2011 for a total of 9 site-years. Itchgrass consistently showed a biphasic emergence pattern, with a first emergence phase that was faster and more consistent across site-years than the second one. Weibull + logistic models based on chronological time (R2adj = 0.92) and thermal time with Tbase = 20 C (R2adj = 0.92) provided the best fit for the combined emergence data for two experimental locations in 2010. Both models predicted itchgrass seedling emergence adequately for most site-years, but the thermal-time model was more accurate (R2adj = 0.64 to 0.86) than the chronological model (R2adj = 0.31 to 0.74), especially when temperatures were high. Both models showed high accuracy in the first emergence phase but tended to underestimate emergence rate during the second phase. The models predicted 50% emergence at 14 d or 80 growing degree days and the stabilization of the first emergence phase at approximately 25 d or 200 growing degree days. Thus, these models can be used to properly time itchgrass POST control. More research is needed to understand the regulatory mechanisms responsible for the variability of the second emergence phase.

Field studies of seasonal sprouting of wild garlic (Allium vineale L.) bulbs showed that all the soft offset, aerial, and central bulbs sprouted, but only 20 to 34% of the hardshell bulbs sprouted after a short after-ripening period. Each fall, a percentage of the remaining hardshell bulbs sprouted, but after 4 years 16% of the hardshell bulbs were still dormant. Embryonic shoots of all bulb types sprouted when excised following the after-ripening period. In addition to a short after-ripening period, hardshell bulbs had a prolonged dormancy due to some mechanism which resides in, or was controlled by, the tissue surrounding the embryonic shoot.

DNA microarrays are one of the new tools of genomics that have become quite commonplace in plant science research within the past decade. Essentially, DNA microarrays are an extension of the more traditional molecular biology technique of northern blotting. Unlike northern blotting, however, in which the expression of a single gene is monitored, DNA microarrays allow for the simultaneous monitoring of thousands of genes—or, in fact, potentially all of an organism's genes—in a single experiment. Most of the currently available plant microarrays are designed for crops species or the model plant, Arabidopsis; however, a microarray for at least one major weed species is currently available. Furthermore, cDNA-based microarrays prepared for one species can be used to investigate gene expression in related species. As the technology is maturing it is becoming much more accessible, and now is the time to begin utilizing microarrays in weed science research. Questions related to herbicide activity are particularly well suited for a microarray approach. Additionally, gene-expression profiling via microarrays can be used to address questions relating to weed biology, weed–crop competition, allelopathy, parasitic weeds, and biological control of weeds.

Greenhouse and laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the effect of CGA 362622 on the herbicidal activity of clethodim on goosegrass. CGA 362622 did not affect absorption and translocation of 14C-clethodim by goosegrass. Averaged across the two treatments of clethodim alone and clethodim plus CGA 362622, absorption was 27 and 85% of the applied 14C-clethodim at 0.5 and 96 h, respectively. By 96 HAT, only 0.8% of applied 14C had translocated to the shoot below the treated leaf. Metabolism of clethodim was not affected by the presence of CGA 362622. Three metabolites of clethodim were detected in treated tissue at all harvest intervals. By 96 HAT, 56% of absorbed 14C converted to a relatively polar form when clethodim was applied alone or in the presence of CGA 362622. One day after treatment, the photosynthetic rate in plants treated with CGA 362622 had decreased below the rate in the nontreated check and remained lower until 6 d after treatment. These data suggest that the antagonism of clethodim by CGA 362622 may result from CGA 362622 altering the photosynthetic rate of goosegrass and therefore the sensitivity of acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase to clethodim.

Plots were planted to corn (Zea mays L., var. Mo. 880) and treated with 0, 2.5, 5.0, and 10 lb/A of 2-chloro-4-ethylamino-6-isopropylamino-s-triazine (atrazine) or 2-chloro-4,6-bis(ethylamino)-s-triazine (simazine) in 1964 and in 1965. Soybean (Glycine max L., var. Clark 63) forage yields from soil samples collected in the spring, 1 year after application, were not affected by treatments of 5.0 lb/A or less of atrazine. Yields were reduced on soils collected in the fall (6 months) after application. Following 2 years of treatment, substantial reductions in yields of soybean forage occurred. Soybeans planted in the field following 2 consecutive years of herbicide treatment, yielded similarly to the control plots except when rates of 10 lb/A had been applied.

Biennial wormwood is native to North America and has become an important weed problem in soybean and dry bean fields of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota in the United States and in the prairie provinces of Canada. Intersimple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers were used to study the genetic diversity among six biennial wormwood and one annual wormwood populations. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequences from internal transcribed spacer (ITS1 and ITS2) regions of ribosomal DNA and morphological diversity among the biennial and annual wormwood populations were also studied. High levels of genetic diversity were evident with Nei's gene diversity statistic (h) = 0.40 for biennial wormwood and h = 0.36 for annual wormwood. Total diversity of six biennial wormwood populations was H T = 0.40, and 22% of this diversity was among populations (G ST = 0.22). Estimated gene flow among biennial wormwood populations was low (Nm = 0.9), and high levels of differentiation may be due in part to low levels of genetic exchange among biennial wormwood populations. Although biennial wormwood behaves more like an annual than a biennial, the ISSR, ITS, and morphological studies show that the two species are dissimilar.

Persistence and movement of 2,3,6-trichlorobenzoic acid (2,3,6-TBA) in a silty clay loam soil was studied. Single applications of 16 lb/A 2,3,6-TBA were made to field plots on 21 dates from 1955 to 1965. All treated plots were sampled to a depth of 8 ft in 1966, and a few were sampled to a depth of 11 ft. One-foot increments of soil were bioassayed to determine presence of the herbicide. Variation in amount and depth of penetration of 2,3,6-TBA was noted, but the herbicide had persisted in the soil 11 years. Persistence and movement could not be related to moisture before or after treatment, temperature after treatment, or, except for treatments applied in 1964 and 1965, time between treatments and sampling. Residues from fall applications appeared to be slightly greater than those from spring or summer applications.

Under furrow irrigation, control of field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis L.) was at least 90% where 4.5 and 6.7 kg/ha of 3,6-dichloro-o-anisic acid (dicamba) had been applied 1 year before. Dicamba at 2.2 kg/ha, mixtures of dicamba and (2,4-dichlorophenoxy)acetic acid (2,4-D), and 2,4-D alone were less effective. No herbicide treatment had eradicated field bindweed after 3 years, but the combined use of herbicides, tillage, and crop competition had suppressed the growth of field bindweed by 31 to 55%. Sugarbeet (Beta vulgaris L.) seedlings appeared normal where 2,4-D had been applied 8 months earlier, but over 90% of the seedlings were killed in plots treated with dicamba. Treatment with 2.2 kg/ha of 2,4-D and dicamba, singly or in combination, resulted in yields of grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) significantly greater than yields from the untreated field bindweed check. The 4.5 and 6.7-kg/ha rates of dicamba still affected sugarbeets during the second year following treatment. Corn (Zea mays L.) production was not affected in the third year by any herbicide treatment. Dicamba, applied at 2.2, 4.5, and 6.7 kg/ha, persisted in the upper 15 cm of top soil for at least 12 months in amounts that were phytotoxic to field beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and sugarbeets.

The addition of 1.5 ml water or 1.5 ml 0.1 N oxalic acid solution to 2 g soil samples containing 14C-labeled herbicides increased the 14C extraction efficiencies. The employment of a modified dioxane extracting-counting solution allowed the addition of 2 ml water without causing a liquid phase separation. Extraction of benzoic acid herbicides from soil was enhanced when 5 mg oxalic acid was added to 2 g soil or when soil was acidified to pH 4.1.

Postemergence and commonly used preemergence plus postemergence herbicide programs were evaluated for weed control in conventional and no-tillage soybeans double cropped after winter wheat in the northern Mississippi River Delta. Broadleaf weed species present varied with tillage, location, and year. Large crabgrass was present in both tillage systems for all locations and years. Conventional tillage usually resulted in higher densities of large crabgrass, common cocklebur, and smooth pigweed. Soil-applied preemergence herbicides alone did not provide season-long ivyleaf and entireleaf morningglory or common cocklebur control in either tillage system. For weed control and soybean yields comparable to weed-free controls, postemergence broadleaf herbicides were required in both tillage systems following the soil-applied herbicide programs, alachlor plus linuron and alachlor plus metribuzin. Postemergence herbicide programs provided excellent season-long annual grass and broadleaf weed control when sethoxydim was applied separately from the broadleaf herbicides. Antagonism of large crabgrass control resulted when sethoxydim was tank mixed with postemergence broadleaf herbicides, compared to separate applications of the postemergence grass and broadleaf herbicides. In three out of four studies, soybean yields in handweeded controls were similar between tillage systems.

Weedy rice (Oryza spp.) is considered one of the main weeds in cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.) around the world, having a great impact on both yield and quality of crop rice. Recent studies have characterized the range of morphological and genetic diversity in weedy rice from different locations and have revealed that there is often great morphological diversity within growing regions. No systematic attempt to characterize phenotypic diversity of weedy rice in Colombia, where this group of weeds greatly affects rice production, has yet been carried out. This study seeks (1) to establish the range of variation in various morphological characters for weedy rice collected in the five production zones of Colombia and to compare these with commercial varieties and landraces sown in the country, (2) to determine the association between weedy rice morphotypes and rice production areas in the country, and (3) to assess whether any association exists between morphology and recently discovered genetic groupings for weedy rice in Colombia. Based on a sampling of rice production areas in Colombia and evaluation of 27 phenotypic traits, a two-step cluster analysis identified four morphological groups for weedy rice in Colombia. These groupings had some limited association with geography and the genetic ancestries of weedy rice. Clustering showed that awn and apiculus color and awn length and presence are the most important predictors in defining morphological groupings. Understanding and classifying the morphological diversity may be helpful in understanding weedy rice origins, evolution, and potential management practices.

Dormancy is a state of shifted physiological activities with cessation of growth. It occurs in seeds and vegetative propagules and enables plants to survive in adverse growing conditions. Traditional studies on dormancy-related problems have mostly focused on hormone changes along with environmental factors that have achieved great insight on these processes at the physiological level. The molecular nature and cellular basis of signals that carry out the processes of dormancy or dormancy breaking are largely unknown. Recent advances in plant genetics and genomics have provided assorted ways to investigate questions concerning dormancy. Various approaches such as developing genetic maps with DNA-based markers, e.g., amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), analyzing mutant lines, conducting quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis, two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, differential display, microarray, have been performed to resolve different issues related to dormancy. The phenotypic variation in dormant seeds or buds is continuous instead of discrete, and thus QTL analysis is desirable to identify the association between genetically determined phenotypes and specific genetic markers (RFLPs). Some aspects of QTL will be introduced. DNA microarray is a recently developed technology that is used to detect and quantitate large numbers of differences in gene expression simultaneously. We have used the DNA microarray technology to study underground bud dormancy and growth in leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula L.). The principle and versatility of DNA microarray will be introduced, and the strategy for applying this technology will be discussed.

Studies were conducted to determine the effect of interference between Pennsylvania smartweed and cotton on plant growth and productivity. Pennsylvania smartweed remained shorter than cotton until at least 80 d after cotton planting. However, Pennsylvania smartweed produced considerable dry biomass by cotton harvest. Pennsylvania smartweed biomass per plant was not affected by weed density when grown with cotton. When grown alone, Pennsylvania smartweed produced 1,640 and 2,060 g dry biomass plant−1 depending on the year. This biomass was over four times greater than the biomass produced by plants grown with cotton. Cotton lint yield decreased between 1.3 and 1.1 kg ha−1 with each gram increase in weed dry biomass per meter of row. The relationship between Pennsylvania smartweed density and cotton percent yield loss was described by the hyperbolic function. The estimated coefficients a (maximum yield loss as density approaches infinity) and i (yield loss per unit density as density approaches zero) were 102 ± 23 and 51 ± 12, respectively, in 1998 and 53 ± 1 and 98 ± 5, respectively, in 2000. Pennsylvania smartweed achene production was also described by the hyperbolic function. Estimated achene production at 1 plant m−1 cotton row was 18,000 and 26,000 achenes m−2 in 1998 and 2000, respectively.

When almost no broadleaf weeds were present, 0.56 kg/ha of the butoxyethanol ester and 0.84 kg/ha of the dimethylamine salt of 4-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)butyric acid (2, 4-DB) caused no yield reductions of seedling alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.); but 0.56 kg/ha of 3,5-dibromo-4-hydroxybenzonitrile (bromoxynil) caused slight reductions. Rates of bromoxynil above 0.56 kg/ha caused significant yield reductions of alfalfa. Broadleaf weeds, when present, shielded alfalfa from the bromoxynil so that reduction in yields of broadleaf weeds and increases in alfalfa were similar to those obtained with 2,4-DB. At equivalent rates 3,5-dichloro-4-hydroxybenzonitrile (hereinafter referred to as chloroxynil) was less effective than bromoxynil for controlling broadleaf weeds and also was less injurious to alfalfa. When no weeds were present at time of application, bromoxynil at a rate of 0.56 kg/ha or greater and chloroxynil at 0.84 and 1.12 kg/ha significantly reduced yields of red clover (Trifolium pratense L.). When weeds were present bromoxynil did not reduce yields of red clover until the 1.12-kg rate was reached. Chloroxynil did not reduce yields at rates as high as 1.12 kg/ha. Excellent control of common lambsquarter (Chenopodium album L.) and common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.) was obtained, and no reduction in alfalfa or red clover occurred with 0.28 kg/ha of bromoxynil or chloroxynil mixed with 0.56 kg/ha of 2,4-DB ester.

As a follow-up to greenhouse studies, acetolactate synthase (ALS) (EC 4.1.3.18) was extracted from one imidazolinone (IMI)-susceptible (S) and three IMI-resistant (R1, R2, and R3) smooth pigweed populations, and activity was assayed in the presence of imazethapyr, chlorimuron, thifensulfuron, and pyrithiobac. ALS inhibitor concentrations, required to reduce enzyme activity by a specified percentage compared with the untreated control (I p), were determined for each herbicide using regression analysis, and resistance ratios were calculated from these values. An I 50 value of >35 μM imazethapyr was calculated for all R populations compared with a value of 3.4 μM for the S population. With chlorimuron, thifensulfuron, and pyrithiobac data sets, pairwise comparisons of regression coefficients were used to determine significant differences between regression lines. Using this technique, it was established that ALS from R3 was more sensitive than ALS from S to inhibition by chlorimuron and thifensulfuron. Also, ALS from R2 and R3 displayed increased sensitivity to pyrithiobac compared with ALS extracted from the S population. We have confirmed enzyme-level resistance to imazethapyr in all R populations and have documented negative cross-resistance in some R populations to ALS inhibitors other than imazethapyr.

Greenhouse experiments were conducted to determine the effects of drought stress length and relief on velvetleaf growth and bentazon efficacy with crop oil concentrate (COC) and 28% urea ammonium nitrate (UAN). Drought stress caused leaf water and osmotic potentials to decline linearly over time. Leaf water potential ΨL) declined 0.02 and 0.08 MPa day−1 for velvetleaf subjected to −0.03 and −0.4 MPa soil water potential (ΨP), respectively. Osmotic potential (ΨO) declined 0.02 and 0.21 MPa day−1 for velvetleaf subjected to −0.03 and −0.4 MPa ΨP respectively. Bentazon did not reduce drought-stressed compared to non-drought-stressed velvetleaf dry weight 21 d after treatment with either COC or no adjuvant but did decrease dry weight with UAN. Reduced velvetleaf dry wights in drought-stressed velvetleaf compared to non-drought-stressed velvetleaf could not be accounted for by increased bentazon penetration in the drought-stressed plants. Rewatering velvetleaf subjected to 7 d of −0.4 MPA ΨP caused them to be more sensitive to bentazon than velvetleaf subjected to −0.03 MPa ΨP except when UAN was the adjuvant.

In a closed system the vapors from the potassium salt of 4-amino-3,5,6-trichloropicolinic acid caused severe damage and death of Pinto beans. Vapors from the potassium salt of 4-amino-3,5,6-trichloropicolinic acid caused more injury to Pinto beans than vapors from the same application rates of the propylene glycol butyl ether esters of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid or the dimethylamine salt of 2-methoxy-3,6-dichlorobenzoic acid.