Palmer amaranth, which is resistant to glyphosate and protoporphyrinogen oxidase inhibitors, remains a threat to cotton and soybean production in Tennessee. This is partly due to the recent evolution of dicamba-resistant Palmer amaranth in western Tennessee, which further complicates weed management. Experiments were conducted in 2021 and 2022 to determine the best timing between sequential applications and the order in which 2,4-D or dicamba should be used with glufosinate to control resistant Palmer amaranth. Palmer amaranth control increased when the interval between postemergence herbicide applications decreased from 21 to 7 d. At the 7-d interval in a dicamba-based system, the order of herbicides did not affect Palmer amaranth control. However, in a 2,4-D-based system, the greatest control was achieved when 2,4-D was applied first, followed by either 2,4-D or glufosinate. While weed height at the time of application had a significant effect on Palmer amaranth control with auxin herbicides, control was still unacceptable in the field at the labeled rates of dicamba or 2,4-D when applied to weeds that were <10 cm tall (48% and 53%, respectively). Neither dicamba nor 2,4-D provided acceptable control of the Palmer amaranth populations evaluated in this study. Sequential applications separated by 7 d provided better weed control than those separated by 21 d. Given that the better 7-d sequential treatments provided less than 90% control and resulted in more than 64,000 surviving Palmer amaranth plants per hectare suggests that relying solely on these herbicides for Palmer amaranth control is not a sustainable weed management strategy.

Late planting due to erratic onset of the rainy season is becoming more frequent in the Sahelo-Sudanian climate where cotton is grown, causing seed cotton yield (SCY) loss and higher risk of drought at the end of the crop cycle. Therefore, cultivars should be adapted to late (from July 10) planting date (PD) in Senegal. The aim of this study was to analyse the interaction between genotypes and PD on SCY in Senegal under rainfed conditions. Field experiments were conducted in 2018 and 2019 using a split-plot design (two PDs, eight cultivars) at three experimental stations. Robust analysis of SCY was used to moderate the effect of potential outliers. The average SCY was 1404 kg/ha under early planting, and 714 kg/ha under late planting. The best SCY was obtained under early planting conditions, in environments with good rainfall. The loss due to late planting was significantly affected by cultivar choice. None of the cultivars performed best under both early and late PD. Under early PD, cultivar CS 50 gave the best SCY, while under late PD it was cultivar IRMA Q302. The best performing cultivar on average depended on the proportion of early plantings. A model was developed to identify the best overall cultivar based on the expected proportion of early planting, as a decision support tool for the cotton development company, if only one cultivar is released. The benefit of releasing a second cultivar for late-planted fields is considered.

A field experiment was conducted in 2019 and 2020 that included six site-years and four locations in Arkansas to determine the optimal sequence and timing of dicamba and glufosinate applications when applied alone, sequentially, or in combination to control Palmer amaranth by size: labeled (<10 cm height) and non-labeled (13 to 25 cm height). Single applications of dicamba, glufosinate, and dicamba plus glufosinate (not labeled) resulted in less than 80% Palmer amaranth control, regardless of weed size. The mixture of dicamba plus glufosinate was antagonistic for Palmer amaranth control and percent mortality. Sequential applications, averaged over all time intervals and herbicides, improved the percentage of Palmer amaranth control 11 to 17 percentage points over a single application, regardless of weed size at application 28 d after final application (DAFA). Palmer amaranth control with glufosinate followed by (fb) glufosinate and dicamba fb dicamba, pending weed size, were optimized at intervals of 7 d, and 14 to 21 d, respectively. Because single site of action (SOA) postemergence herbicide systems increase the likelihood of the development of resistant biotypes and are not a best management practice (BMP) in that regard; sequential applications involving both dicamba and glufosinate were more effective. Furthermore, the sequence of application mattered with a preference for applying dicamba first. Dicamba fb glufosinate at a 14-d interval was profit-maximizing and the only herbicide treatment that resulted in 100% weed control when size was <10 cm. For larger weed sizes, economic analysis revealed that dicamba fb dicamba performed better than dicamba fb glufosinate when no penalty was assigned for using a single SOA. This resulted in greater yield loss risk and soil weed seed bank in comparison to timelier weed control with the smaller weed size. Hence, timely weed control and two SOAs to control Palmer amaranth are recommended as BMPs that reduce producer risk.

Drought is a devastating factor for crop production worldwide. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to study genetics for some agro-physiological traits in cotton under drought stress. The 13 parental cotton genotypes along with their 30 F1 hybrids were planted under normal and drought conditions. The mean performance of the genotypes was assessed through principal component and heat map analyses. The principal component analyses revealed 53.99 and 53.15% in the first two principal components of variability for normal and drought conditions, respectively. Heat map analysis revealed that three cotton genotypes i.e. FH-207 × NS-131, FH-207 × KZ-191 and S-15 × AA-703 attained higher values for all the traits except for canopy temperature under drought conditions. These crosses may proliferate to further filial generations to identify transgressive segregates for drought tolerance. The heritable differences of F̅1 and mid-parent showed dominance and non-additive gene action under drought conditions. Heritable differences between F̅1 and P̅1 showed over dominance and partial dominance under drought conditions. Heritable differences between F̅1 and P̅2 indicated negative over dominance and partial dominance for all traits under drought conditions. Proline contents and the bolls per plant showed high heritability and genetic advance through additive gene action. Therefore, these two traits can be used as a means of selection in future breeding programmes of drought tolerance.

Trifludimoxazin, a new protoporphyrinogen oxidase–inhibiting herbicide, is being evaluated for possible use as a soil-residual active herbicide treatment in cotton for control of small-seeded annual broadleaf weeds. Laboratory and greenhouse studies were conducted to compare vertical mobility and cotton tolerance of trifludimoxazin to flumioxazin and saflufenacil, which are two currently registered protoporphyrinogen oxidase–inhibiting herbicides for use in cotton, in three West Texas soils. Vertical soil mobility of trifludimoxazin was similar to flumioxazin in Acuff loam and Olton loam soils, but was more mobile than flumioxazin in the Amarillo loamy sand soil. The depth of trifludimoxazin movement after a 2.5-cm irrigation event ranged from 2.5 to 5.0 cm in all soils, which would not allow for crop selectivity based on herbicide placement, because ideal cotton seeding depth is from 0.6 to 2.54 cm deep. Greenhouse studies indicated that PRE treatments were more injurious than the 14 d preplant treatment when summarized across soils for the three herbicides (43% and 14% injury, respectively). No differences in visual cotton response or dry weight was observed after trifludimoxazin preplant as compared with the nontreated control within each of the three West Texas soils and was similar to the flumioxazin preplant across soils. On the basis of these results, a use pattern for trifludimoxazin in cotton may be established with the use of a more than 14-d preplant restriction before cotton planting.

Sensitive cotton varieties planted into soil treated with 2,4-D or dicamba utilized in burndowns can result in stunting and stand loss if use rate is too high and the plant-back interval is too short. The objective of this study was to evaluate cotton stunting and yield responses resulting from 2,4-D or dicamba residues in soil after preplant burndown applications at three locations in 2016 and 2017. Treatments with 2,4-D included 532 and 1,063 g ae ha−1 applied 3 wk before planting (WBP) and 53, 160, 266, 532, 1,063 g ae ha−1 applied at planting. Dicamba treatments included 560 and 1,120 g ae h−1 applied 3 WBP and 56, 168, 280, 560, 1,120 g ae ha−1 applied at planting. Dicamba or 2,4-D treatments applied 3 WBP resulted in no adverse effects on cotton stand, plant height, or yield. Dicamba 560 g ae h−1 applied at planting reduced cotton stand by 36% at 21 to 24 d after planting (DAP) over all locations in 2016. In 2017, stands were reduced by dicamba at 168, 280, 560, and 1,120 g ae ha−1 by 17% to 25% at 20 to 23 DAP. Moreover, cotton stands were not affected by 2,4-D in 2016, and only 266, 532, and 1,063 g ae ha−1 of 2,4-D caused stand reductions of 26% to 36% at 20 to 23 DAP over all locations in 2017. Dicamba at 560 g ae ha−1 at planting was the only treatment in this study that reduced plant height. Although stand losses were observed in both years, no yield loss occurred. The data suggest that stunting and stand reduction may occur if susceptible varieties are planted soon after burndown applications with 2,4-D or dicamba, but yield may not be affected after a full growing season. Dicamba showed greater potential to cause stunting and stand reduction than 2,4-D.