This study was designed to develop a protocol for using a biologically-based system to detect and tract airborne herbicides. Common bean, lentil, and pea were selected for their quasi-diagnostic sensitivity to chlorsulfuron, thifensulfuron, metsulfuron, tribenuron, paraquat, glyphosate, bromoxynil, 2,4-D, and dicamba. Plants were grown in the greenhouse at Prosser, WA, and placed at 25 exposure sites at weekly intervals between Apr. 2 and Oct. 15, 1991. After 1 wk of field exposure plants were brought back and observed for herbicide symptoms over a 28-d period. Symptoms that developed were compared with symptoms caused by disease, insects, adverse weather conditions, and herbicides applied at different rates under controlled conditions on these species. In addition, if herbicide symptoms were observed, herbicide spray records and weather data in the area were used in a computer model to determine the source of potential herbicide drift. This study demonstrates that indicator plant species selected for high sensitivity to herbicides can be used to monitor the occurrence of herbicide movement.

The effect of soil properties and weather on herbicide persistence and injury to following crops were studied at a site near Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, with undulating topography that included no-tillage and conventional tillage systems on adjacent fields. Soil pH ranged from 5.2 (lower slope no-tillage) to 7.8 (upper slope conventional tillage) and soil organic matter content ranged from 2.3% (upper slope conventional tillage) to 4.4% (lower slope no-tillage). During the years when the experiments were conducted rainfall ranged from < 50% of normal to > 150% of normal. During dry years atrazine and metsulfuron severely injured wheat and lentil crops, seeded 1 yr after herbicide application, on upper slope locations. The most severe injury occurred on the upper slope conventional tillage location. In years with high rainfall, no crop injury occurred 1 yr after atrazine and metsulfuron application on either upper or lower slope locations in both tillage systems. Imazamox plus imazethapyr caused almost 100% injury in the lower slope position in the no-tillage system (pH 5.2) in the driest year. Following-crop injury due to the imidazolinone herbicides decreased with increasing rainfall and increasing soil pH. The most severe injury to following crops seemed to occur when herbicide dissipation was dependent on microbial activity and rainfall was below normal.

A study was conducted at three locations in Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1996 and 1997 to determine if increasing the seeding rate of wheat, barley, and lentil by 50% would maintain weed control and crop yield when herbicides are applied at reduced rates or not at all. Three herbicide rates (½ of full, ¾ of full, and full recommended label rate), along with an untreated check, two crop seeding rates (normally recommended and 1.5 times normally recommended rates), and three crops were tested. Increasing seeding rate did not affect weed fresh weights, crop yield, and net return responses to herbicides applied at reduced rates or not at all when averaged across crops, years, and locations. Increased seeding rate, independent of the different herbicide applications, had infrequent and inconsistent effects among the crop by year by location combinations. More broadleaf and grass weed growth, less crop yield, and lower net returns generally occurred when herbicides were not applied or applied at reduced rates. These trends were especially prominent when herbicides were not applied to cereal crops at Saskatoon (40% yield reduction) and when herbicides were applied at ½ the full label rate rather than higher herbicide rates to wheat at the other two locations (16% yield reduction). In 1996, lentil yield and net returns did not respond to herbicide application and rate because of poor grass weed control across all herbicide rates. Lentil yield and net returns decreased by 11% (full vs. ¾), 22% (¾ vs. ½), and 46% (½ vs. none) when herbicides were applied at progressively lower rates in 1997. Reduced herbicide rates did not affect net returns for cereal crops, indicating that herbicide rates lower than the full label rate may be economically viable in certain crops.

MON 37500 was registered in 1999 for weed control in wheat and has the potential to injure following crops. Therefore, growth chamber experiments were conducted to determine the effect of soil properties on the phytotoxicity of MON 37500 residues, the relative tolerance of several potential rotational crops, and the joint effect of MON 37500 residues plus other herbicide residues on a susceptible crop. In 13 Alberta soils, the concentrations of MON 37500 and triasulfuron that reduced canola and barley dry matter by 50% (GR50) were correlated with soil organic matter (OM) and pH. The relationship that best described the effect of soil organic matter on GR50 for each herbicide–crop combination was GR50 = a + b(OM)2. There was no significant improvement in r 2 when pH and clay content were included in the equation. For soils with 2 and 10% OM content, predicted GR50 values for canola in MON 37500–treated soil are 2 and 26 ηg/g soil, respectively. Little injury to following canola is predicted in soils with OM contents > 4.5%. At similar concentrations, following crops such as canola, flax, lentil, and oriental mustard are predicted to be injured less by MON 37500 than by triasulfuron. The effect of combined residues of MON 37500 with triasulfuron, imazethapyr, or metsulfuron should be additive.