Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T04:34:33.154Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Morphological and Physiological Response of Slender Oat (Avena barbata) to the Herbicides Barban and Difenzoquat

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2017

Steven C. Price
Affiliation:
Biotechnology, The Standard Oil Co., 4440 Warrensville Center Rd., Cleveland, OH 44128
James E. Hill
Affiliation:
Univ. California, Davis, CA 95616
Robert W. Allard
Affiliation:
Univ. California, Davis, CA 95616

Abstract

The morphological and physiological response of the slender oat (Avena barbata Pott ex Link # AVEBA) to the herbicides barban (4-chloro-2-butynyl 3-chlorophenylcarbamate) and difenzoquat (1,2-dimethyl-3,5-diphenyl-1H-pyrazolium) in conjunction with decreased water availability was determined for seven populations, representing three ecotypes, under greenhouse conditions. Generally, within the range of sublethal herbicide doses, with increasing herbicide rates, phytotoxicity ratings increased, but plant dry weight, tiller height, and number of spikelets were decreased. Also, the number of juvenile tillers decreased, while that of fertile tillers increased. Flag leaf area increased and flowering was delayed. The ratio of number of spikelets to plant dry weight and seed weight was influenced the least. Under the highest rates of difenzoquat, the within-plant variance of spikelet number decreased, indicating that there may have been a more equal partitioning of resources amongst tillers for spikelet production. The general influence of water stress was to amplify the effect of the herbicide. For example, the dry treatment reduced dry weight and tiller height, and delayed flowering. Within a particular herbicide treatment, the effect of the water stress was to cause reduced within-plant variance for days to flowering, flag leaf area, and number of spikelets. Three reactions were observed that could have helped buffer decreases in spikelet production: 1) An increased fraction of the dry weight of the plants was partitioned into the spikelets at the expense of other vegetative matter, 2) the increased leaf area of the primary tiller may have helped counterbalance any reduction in photosynthesis caused by herbicide action, and 3) an increased number of juvenile tillers was converted into fertile tillers resulting in an increased number of mature tillers. These data indicate that the slender oat has a remarkable “phenotypic plasticity,” which enables it to maintain reproductive structures under sublethal herbicide doses.

Type
Weed Biology and Ecology
Copyright
Copyright © 1988 by the Weed Science Society of America 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

1. Allard, R. W. and Bradshaw, A. D. 1964. Implications of geno-type-environmental interactions in applied plant breeding. Crop Sci. 4:503508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2. Bradshaw, A. D. 1965. Evolutionary significance of phenotypic plasticity in plants. Adv. Gen. 13:115155.Google Scholar
3. Cartwright, P. M. 1976. General growth responses of plants. Pages 5582 in Audus, L. D., ed. Herbicides Physiology, Biochemistry, Ecology. Academic Press, London, New York, San Francisco.Google Scholar
4. Chow, P.N.P. 1982. Wild oat (Avena fatua) herbicide studies: I. Physiological response of wild oat to five postemergence herbicides. Weed Sci. 30:16.Google Scholar
5. Halling, B. P. and Behrens, R. 1983. Effects of difenzoquat on photoreactions and respiration in wheat (Triticum aestivum) and wild oat (Avena fatua). Weed Sci. 31:693699.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6. Kajada, I. 1984. Carbyne. Can. Plains Proc. 12:5962.Google Scholar
7. Hutchinson, E. S. 1984. Seed size and quantitative characters in Avena barbata . Heredity 52:2533.Google Scholar
8. Kahler, A. L. and Price, S. C. 1988. Isozymes in population genetics, systematics, and evolution of grasses. International Symposium on Grass Systematics and Evolution. 27–31 July. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. (In press).Google Scholar
9. Kirkwood, R. C. 1976. Action on respiration and intermediary metabolism. Pages 443492 in Audus, L. D., ed. Herbicides Physiology, Biochemistry, Ecology. Academic Press, London, New York, San Francisco.Google Scholar
10. Linck, A. J. 1976. Effects on the cytology and fine structure of plant cells. Pages 83125 in Augus, L. D., ed. Herbicides Physiology, Biochemistry, Ecology. Academic Press, London, New York, San Francisco.Google Scholar
11. Jacobsen, R. and Andersen, R. N. 1968. Differential response of wild oat lines to diallate, triallate, and barban. Weed Sci. 16:491494.Google Scholar
12. McWhorter, C. G. and Jordan, T. N. 1976. Comparative morphological development of six Johnsongrass ecotypes. Weed Sci. 24:270275.Google Scholar
13. Price, S. C. and Kahler, A. L. 1983 Oats (Avena spp.). Pages 103127 in Tanksley, S. and Orton, T., eds. Isozymes in Plant Genetics and Breeding. Part B. Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
14. Price, S. C., Hill, J. E., and Allard, R. W. 1983. Genetic variability for herbicide reaction in plant populations. Weed Sci. 31:652657.Google Scholar
15. Price, S. C., Shumaker, K. M., Kahler, A. L., Hill, J. E., and Allard, R. W. 1984. Comparisons of estimates of population differentiation obtained from enzyme polymorphisms and from quantitative characters. J. Hered. 75:141142.Google Scholar
16. Price, S. C., Allard, R. W., Hill, J. E., and Naylor, J. 1985. Associations between discrete genetic loci and genetic variability for herbicide reaction in plant populations. Weed Sci. 33:650653.Google Scholar
17. Rydrych, D. J. and Seely, C. I. 1964. Effect of IPC on accessions of wild oat. Weeds 12:265267.Google Scholar
18. Shaner, D. L. 1984. Mode of action of Avenge (Difenzoquat). Can. Plains Proc. 12:4957.Google Scholar
19. Somody, C. N., Nalewaja, J. D., Miller, S. D. 1984. Wild oat (Avena fatua) and Avena sterilis morphological characteristics and response to herbicides. Weed Sci. 32:353359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar