In the greenhouse, naptalam at 1.1 to 4.5 kg ai ha−1 antagonized activity of paraquat at 0.04 to 0.14 kg ai ha−1 in 14 of 16 rate combinations when applied to sicklepod. Sicklepod shoot fresh weight reduction was less compared to that obtained with paraquat alone when paraquat at 0.04 kg ha−1 was mixed with bentazon at 0.42 to 0.84 kg ai ha−1 or monocarbamide dihydrogensulfate at 14 to 58 kg ai ha−1. Paraquat activity on Florida beggarweed was antagonized by mixtures of paraquat at 0.04 or 0.07 kg ha−1 with bentazon at 0.63 or 0.84 kg ha−1 or paraquat at 0.04 to 0.14 kg ha−1 with naptalam at 3.4 or 4.5 kg ha−1. Mixtures of lactofen at 0.06 to 0.22 kg ai ha−1 with monocarbamide dihydrogensulfate at 14 kg ha−1 or lactofen at 0.06 or 0.16 kg ha−1 with alachlor at 1.4 to 2.8 kg ai ha−1 synergistically increased tall morningglory shoot fresh weight reduction. In the field, excellent sicklepod shoot fresh weight reduction by paraquat applied alone masked most antagonistic effects of paraquat mixtures. Addition of alachlor to monocarbamide dihydrogensulfate at 29 kg ha−1 improved activity on sicklepod compared to monocarbamide dihydrogensulfate applied alone.

Field experiments were conducted in 1986 and 1987 to evaluate the potential of growth regulators mepiquat chloride and chlormequat chloride as seed treatments to protect cotton from fluometuron injury. Fluometuron at two and three times the recommended use rate reduced cotton stand and height on Taloka and Convent silt loam soils both years. Cotton grown on a Sharkey silty clay soil was not injured by fluometuron. Mepiquat chloride and chlormequat chloride increased cotton stands on a Taloka silt loam soil when averaged over rates and years. In general, fluometuron injury to cotton was not reduced by treating seed with 1000 ppmw concentrations of chlormequat chloride or mepiquat chloride. Chlormequat chloride reduced chlorosis and necrosis of cotton treated with fluometuron, but neither growth regulator eliminated cotton injury or yield reduction caused by fluometuron at two or three times the recommended rates.

High herbicide costs and uncertainty about annual weed control at planting have limited adoption of no-till spring wheat production systems in the northern Great Plains. Chlorsulfuron, metsulfuron, and CGA-131036 at 10 to 20 g ai ha–1 plus nonionic surfactant generally controlled both emerged kochia and wild mustard equally well (>80%) whether or not combined with glyphosate at 250 g ha–1 plus nonionic surfactant. In two of three trials persistent phytotoxic residues of these sulfonylurea herbicides in soil controlled both weeds better in midseason and early summer 1 yr after treatment than did glyphosate, which has only foliar activity. While the absolute net returns of different treatments varied among herbicides, relative net returns were insensitive to changes in either herbicide or wheat price. Herbicide use tended to boost net returns for no-till spring wheat in years with good weather but depressed net returns in a drought year. Chlorsulfuron at 10 and 20 g ha–1 increased net returns in all three trials. Metsulfuron and combinations of either metsulfuron or chlorsulfuron with glyphosate had variable effects on net returns.

Bermudagrass growing in a creeping bentgrass green is a severe problem where both grasses are grown. An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of multiple flurprimidol-herbicide applications on tolerance of bentgrass and on suppression of three bermudagrass cultivars in bentgrass. Application of 1.4 kg ai ha–1 flurprimidol on April 15 and 0.8 kg ha–1 repeated on June 1 injured creeping bentgrass 44% in 1988 and 22% in 1989. Bermudagrass was suppressed from the two flurprimidol applications until mid-June in 1988. Growth in 1989 was not influenced by number of applications since bermudagrass was suppressed only until late May. Application of 0.8 + 54 kg ai ha–1 flurprimidol plus siduron on April 15 and 0.4 + 27 kg ha–1 on June 1 injured creeping bentgrass 23 to 28% and suppressed bermudagrass until mid-July in 1988 and mid-June in 1989. Application of 0.8 + 1.7 kg ha–1 flurprimidol plus ethofumesate on April 15 and 0.4 + 0.8 kg ha–1 on June 1 injured creeping bentgrass 25 to 28% and effectively suppressed bermudagrass until late August in 1988 and late June in 1989. Application of 0.8 + 54 kg ha–1 flurprimidol plus siduron or 0.8 + 1.7 kg ha–1 flurprimidol plus ethofumesate applied in June or June and July to plots treated in April did not improve bermudagrass suppression. In most instances there was an inverse relationship between bermudagrass suppression and number of bermudagrass stolons. There were interactions between flurprimidol-herbicide treatments on bermudagrass cultivars on number of stolons but not on suppression.

Weed seedlings were grown in a composite soil contained within a semipermeable membrane that allowed the development of consistent, reproducible levels of plant water stress. The water content of membrane units with a 1-cm cross section equilibrated most rapidly, within 3 to 5 days, with the external osmotic solution. The water potential (Ψ) of green foxtail grown in plant growth membrane units was curvilinearly related to the external polyethylene glycol (PEG) osmotic solution Ψ. This relationship permitted nondestructive estimation of plant Ψ. Green foxtail shoot growth in membrane units was reduced by decreasing Ψ of the external PEG osmotic solution and was completely arrested by high water stress induced by an −800 kPa external osmotic solution. The technique makes possible precise control and relatively rapid adjustment in the level and duration of plant Ψ of seedlings and small plants.

Glyphosate is often applied with diammonium sulfate to increase weed control. However, many other salts in the spray carrier have antagonized glyphosate phytotoxicity. Research was conducted with wheat as a bioassay species to further determine the influence of various salts on glyphosate phytotoxicity. Cation antagonism of glyphosate occurred with iron > zinc > calcium ≥ magnesium > sodium > potassium. Ammonium cation with hydroxide or most other anions was not antagonistic. Anions of ammonium compounds were of primary importance in overcoming glyphosate antagonistic salts, while the ammonium cation was neutral or slightly stimulatory with certain anions. Sulfate, phosphate, citrate, and acetate anions were not antagonistic, but nitrate and chloride anions were slightly antagonistic when applied as ammonium salts or acids. Antagonism of glyphosate action by sodium bicarbonate and calcium chloride was overcome by phosphoric, sulfuric, and citric acid and phosphate, sulfate, and citrate ammonium salts. Acid and ammonium salts of nitrate and chloride were more effective in overcoming sodium bicarbonate than calcium chloride antagonists of glyphosate. Ferric sulfate antagonism was overcome only by citric, partly by phosphoric and sulfuric but not by nitric and hydrochloric acids or their ammonium salts. Acetic acid, ammonium acetate, and ammonium hydroxide did not overcome any salt antagonism of glyphosate. Glyphosate response to salts was independent of spray carrier pH.

The effects of 1.24 kg ha−1 ammonium sulfate, 5 g ae ha−1 of the isopropylamine salt of imazapyr, and air temperatures of 18, 27, or 35 C at 40 or 100% relative humidity (RH) on the absorption and translocation of the ammonium salt of 14C-imazethapyr applied postemergence to pitted morningglory were evaluated. Absorption of 14C-imazethapyr was greater at 100 than at 40% RH (88 vs. 47%). At 40% RH, absorption was increased to 79% by the addition of ammonium sulfate. At 100% RH absorption was similar with all treatments. Translocation of 14C-imazethapyr applied alone was greater at 100 than at 40% RH (34 vs. 17%). Addition of ammonium sulfate increased translocation at 40% RH but not at 100%. Addition of imazapyr did not affect 14C translocation. Distribution of 14C throughout the plant was more acropetal than basipetal with the greatest distribution at 35 C.

The effects of the antidote CGA-154281, available soil water (ASW), and soil temperature on corn injury from preemergence applications of metolachlor were evaluated in field and growth chamber studies. In field studies, metolachlor at rates of 5.6, 8.4, and 11.2 kg ha–1 caused corn injury when there was sufficient ASW before corn emergence to activate the herbicide. Injury was prevented when CGA-154281 was applied with metolachlor (30:1, metolachlor:CGA-154281 by wt). The effects of surface-soil ASW, soil temperature, and CGA-154281 on corn tolerance to metolachlor were further evaluated in growth chamber studies. Corn injury from metolachlor was more severe when the surface soil was wet for 5 days immediately after herbicide treatment than when the surface-soil was dry. Corn injury from metolachlor also was greater when corn was grown under cool temperatures (21/13 C, day/night) than when grown under warm temperatures (30/21 C, day/night). CGA-154281 conferred protection against metolachlor injury regardless of surface soil ASW or growth temperature.

Experiments to determine effects of chlorimuron, clomazone, and imazaquin applied the year before planting corn, cotton, and sorghum were conducted at three locations in Georgia. Corn injury was <20% in 1987 and 1988 and yield was not affected. In 1988, imazaquin applied at a high rate or sequentially the previous year to late-planted soybeans injured corn more than applications to the early-planted soybeans. Cotton was the most sensitive crop to herbicides applied the previous year. However, seed cotton yield was not decreased due to herbicides applied the previous year. Sorghum growth and yield 8 weeks after planting was not affected by soybean herbicide application the previous year. Sicklepod, corn, and wheat bioassays did not detect any of the herbicides in soil samples obtained the season after treatment. Bioassays accurately predicted potential injury in corn and sorghum but not cotton.

Pendimethalin dissipation was studied following annual 1.7 kg ai ha–1 applications to 3-yr-old Kentucky bluegrass turf growing on a Sharpsburg silty clay loam soil and an 85/15 by volume sand/Sharpsburg soil mixture in 150-cm-deep rhizotron containers. Plant tissue, thatch, and soil were sampled periodically between application and 168 days after treatment (DAT). Soil and leachate were collected to monitor pendimethalin movement. Most of the herbicide appeared to remain within the turfgrass system. Pendimethalin concentration was highest in plant tissue and thatch. The 4-hydroxymethyl pendimethalin metabolite was detected in turfgrass tissue up to 42 DAT. No pendimethalin was detected at the 30-, 60-, or 120-cm depths in the rhizotron containers. Traces (≤0.003 mg kg–1) of pendimethalin detected in rhizotron leachate collected between 6 and 14 days after heavy rainfall (88 and 95 DAT, respectively) were attributed to gravitational displacement of soil colloids containing adsorbed herbicide. Pendimethalin application to established turfgrass would not appear to pose a high risk of groundwater contamination.

The effect of soil composition on adsorption of chloridazon by 18 samples of natural soils, with different chemical and textural characteristics, obtained from west-central Spain, was investigated. The effect of removal of organic matter on adsorption and adsorption of the herbicide by the active components of the soils (montmorillonite and humic acid) was also studied. A highly significant correlation was found between the distribution coefficient (Kd) and organic matter content when all the soils or the soils with organic matter content >2% were considered. According to the determination coefficients (r2), organic matter content accounted for 72% of the variance in adsorption in the former case and 92% in the latter. In soils with an organic matter content <2%, there was no correlation between Kd and organic matter content. A significant correlation was observed between Kd and smectite content for soils containing smectite in their clay fraction. Both simple and multiple correlations showed that clay content, excluding the smectite fraction, had a relatively small effect on adsorption of the herbicide. Adsorption of chloridazon by oxidized soils, montmorillonite, and humic acid confirms the effect of organic matter and smectite on adsorption in natural soils.

Field studies were conducted to evaluate the influence of herbicide application timing on weed control in no-till soybean production. Row spacing generally had no effect on weed control. Herbicide treatments containing chlorimuron plus metribuzin applied as many as 45 days prior to planting in 1988 and 1989 controlled broadleaf weeds throughout the growing season. Imazaquin applied 45 and 30 days prior to planting provided poor control of common cocklebur in 1989. Giant foxtail control was inconsistent with all herbicide treatments. Soybean yields subsequent to early preplant herbicide applications were greater than or equal to those in which applications were made at planting when late-season weed control was adequate. Herbicides applied preemergence did not control high densities of common lambsquarters in 1989.

An enzymatic (amylase) pretreatment was developed that allows quantitative recovery of the parent compound from soil samples receiving the pesticide in starch-encapsulated formulation. The pretreatment involves adding amylase, dissolved in a phosphate buffer solution, to soil samples and incubating the resulting slurry at 50 C for 1 h. Efficiency of this pretreatment was tested on two soils, a silty clay and a loamy sand, receiving atrazine and alachlor in the starch-encapsulated formulation. The inexpensive method adds approximately 1 h to the extraction procedure and a twofold increase in percentage recovery of starch-encapsulated atrazine. The enzyme pretreatment is not necessary for quantitative recovery of pesticides that have rapid rates of release such as alachlor. The method will be useful for studying starch encapsulation pesticide behavior in the soil environment.

Field experiments were conducted in 1988 and 1989 to evaluate imazethapyr for weed control in peanuts. Imazethapyr was applied PRE or POST at 3, 5, or 7 weeks after crop emergence (WAE) at 0.071 kg ai ha–1. Imazethapyr applied PRE controlled common lambsquarters 85%, prickly sida 92%, and a mixture of entireleaf, ivyleaf, pitted, and tall morningglory species 77%. Morningglory control was at least 91% with imazethapyr plus metolachlor PRE followed by imazethapyr plus 2,4–DB or imazethapyr plus acifluorfen at 3, 5, or 7 WAE. Yields from systems that included metolachlor plus imazethapyr PRE followed by imazethapyr plus acifluorfen, imazethapyr plus 2,4–DB, or acifluorfen plus 2,4–DB at 3 WAE were greater than yields from the handweeded check. All systems with imazethapyr plus metolachlor PRE followed by any POST treatment except imazethapyr plus acifluorfen 7 WAE provided net returns equivalent to the herbicide standard of metolachlor PRE and acifluorfen and bentazon plus 2,4–DB 3 WAE. All systems except imazethapyr PRE provided greater net returns than the handweeded weed–free check.

Greenhouse and field studies demonstrated that naptalam reduced paraquat activity by as much as 30% on sicklepod, smallflower morningglory, Florida beggarweed, and peanut Sequential application experiments, i.e. naptalam applied 2 or 24 h prior to an application of paraquat, as well as absorption studies utilizing 14C-paraquat, indicated that the antagonism was due largely to reduced paraquat absorption. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that application of naptalam, as well as naptalam applied with paraquat, resulted in amorphous deposits on the leaf surface which may account for the antagonism.

Studies were conducted to determine the effect of ensiling and/or rumen digestion by cattle on the germination and viability of several common weed species. Seed survival of grass species subjected to ensiling and/or rumen digestion tended to be less than that of broadleaf species. Downy brome, foxtail barley, and barnyardgrass were nonviable after either ensiling for 8 weeks or rumen digestion for 24 h. Some green foxtail (17%) and wild oats (0 to 88%) seeds survived digestion in the rumen but were killed by the ensiling process. Varying percentages of seeds of kochia, redroot pigweed, common lambsquarters, wild buckwheat, round-leaved mallow, and field pennycress remained viable after ensiling (3 to 30%), rumen digestion (15 to 98%), and ensiling plus rumen digestion (2 to 19%). A time course study of rumen digestion indicated that loss of seed viability often was not a gradual process. With some species, there was an initial lag phase while degradation of the protective seed coat likely occurred, followed by a rapid decline in embryo viability. The diet fed to livestock appeared to affect viability losses caused by rumen digestion. Estimates of seed survival with varying rates of passage through the rumen due to differing ratios of grain to forage in the diet are presented.

Field and laboratory investigations were conducted from 1983 through 1985 to evaluate morphological and environmental influences on the performance of imazaquin on 26 weed species common to the Mississippi Delta. Imazaquin applied preplant incorporated or preemergence at 140 g ai ha–1 controlled 16 species but controlled only five species at 140 g ha–1 foliar applied. Contour graphs accurately predicted imazaquin postemergence rates necessary to control a given weed species at a given time after emergence. Imazaquin applied preemergence with a sequential postemergence application controlled entireleaf morningglory and sicklepod better than a single soil application. Imazaquin at 140 g ha–1 applied preemergence required at least 50 mm of supplemental water following application to control sicklepod and was more phytotoxic to sicklepod grown at 25/10 C day/night temperatures than those grown at 32/22 C.

A field trial was conducted in 1988 and 1989 to confirm the efficacy of naphthalic anhydride (NA) for providing full-season protection of corn from imazethapyr applied at various times and rates. NA applied as a 1% by weight dust to corn seed caused 6% injury 2 weeks after treatment (WAT) in 1989; however, plants recovered within 6 WAT and grain yield was not affected. Imazethapyr applied to corn untreated with NA resulted in greater than 30% injury for all treatments in both years except PRE in 1988. NA reduced phytotoxicity from all imazethapyr applications in 1989 and from PPI, early POST, and 4- to 5-leaf stage (mid-POST) applications in 1988. Despite the safening effect, corn injury was still observed 6 WAT in NA-treated corn for all imazethapyr applications in both years except early POST in 1988. Higher yields were produced from NA-treated than untreated corn with imazethapyr applied PPI in both years, PRE in 1989, early POST in both years, and mid-POST in 1988. Safened corn treated PPI and early POST yielded the same as the safened corn in the control in both years. Imazethapyr applied at the 8- to 10-leaf stage caused total yield loss regardless of NA treatment. Drought conditions may have caused the lower corn injury and yield loss from imazethapyr observed in 1988 compared to 1989.

Sixty isolates of the plant pathogenic fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary and six isolates of Sclerotinia minor Jagger were evaluated in a controlled environment for virulence on leaves excised from 8-week-old dandelion plants. Significant negative correlations were obtained between the relative virulence of the isolates and the dry weights of dandelion plants inoculated in a controlled environment; and positive correlations were detected between the relative virulence of isolates and reduction in number of dandelion plants in turfgrass swards infested with inoculum of the isolates. In August 1988, an 80.7% reduction in the number of dandelion plants was detected in a turfgrass sward treated in 1987 with four applications of heat-killed seed of perennial ryegrass (100 g m−2 application–1) infested with isolate R30 of S. sclerotiorum, followed by six applications at the same rate in 1988. Populations of dandelions in untreated swards increased by 22.2% during the same period. Heat-killed seed of perennial ryegrass (100 g m−2) infested with isolate R30 applied simultaneously with dandelion seed (25 g m−2) onto a sward of Kentucky bluegrass reduced the establishment of dandelion seedlings by 85.5%. Necrosis or discoloration did not develop on Kentucky bluegrass, creeping bentgrass, annual bluegrass, or quackgrass treated with inoculum of Sclerotinia. Sclerotia of Sclerotinia spp. were found, on occasion, in crowns but not on the foliage of diseased dandelions.