The response of trifluralin-susceptible (S) and -resistant (R) green foxtail biotypes to herbicides belonging to several chemical groups was compared to determine the cross-resistance pattern of the R-biotype. Dose-response experiments conducted in the growth chamber indicated that R-green foxtail was resistant to other dinitroanilines and a chemically unrelated mitotic disrupter herbicide, but not to nine other herbicides belonging to seven chemical families. The response of S- and R-green foxtail to increasing dosages of ethalfluralin, applied PPI in rapeseed, was investigated in a field experiment in 1989 and 1990. The R-biotype was 7 times more resistant to ethalfluralin than the S-biotype based on density determinations 4 wk after emergence. Seven times higher dosage was required to reduce R-seed production by 50% than to reduce S-seed production by the same amount. The initial reductions in density of R- and S-plants at the recommended dosage of ethalfluralin in rapeseed (1.4 kg ha−1) was 35% and 95%, respectively. The effective kill (seed yield reduction) of R- and S-biotypes was 55% and 99%, respectively. The results indicate that ethalfluralin will not effectively control R-green foxtail. However, several other herbicides with different mechanisms of action can be used to effectively control R-foxtail, thereby reducing any adverse effects of their interference on crop production.

The awareness and adoption of conservation tillage is one of the most important changes taking place in agriculture today. There are, however, concerns regarding weed species shifts under conservation tillage. Under conservation tillage, shifts toward grass, perennial, wind-disseminated weeds and volunteer crop plants have been observed. Shifts in weed species composition may either represent long-term ecological succession or temporary fluctuations in species composition; few long-term studies have examined the ecology of these shifts in detail. Further studies are needed to identify mechanisms driving these shifts to determine whether they are fluctuational or successional and to develop more sophisticated management strategies. In this paper, we present a research approach for studying ecological processes such as competition within a hierarchical framework of all possible causes, processes, and defining factors related to weed succession under conservation tillage. Succession management strategies can be developed to act at the causal level in the successional hierarchy. Three primary causes are site availability, colonization, and species performance. Site availability may be controlled through “designed disturbance”, while differential species availability may be regulated through “controlled colonization” and species performance may be regulated through “controlled species performance”. In general, the goals of succession management would involve reducing populations of the weed species most likely to proliferate under conservation tillage. Comprehensive ecological research, within the hierarchical framework outlined here, would identify potential problems and enable management strategies to account for the numerous factors that may be influencing fluctuations and succession of weeds under conservation tillage.

Spray droplet size of water and paraffinic oil was affected by air pressure, nozzle type, and liquid flow rate when applied with an ultralow volume (ULV), air-assist sprayer. Volume median diameters of water were generally larger than oil at constant air pressure and liquid flow rate. Droplet size decreased as air pressure increased, but increased as liquid flow rate increased. Volume median diameters of water droplets ranged from 41 to 838 μm and from 16 to 457 μm with oil when atomized at air pressures ranging from 14 to 84 kPa. Relative spans ranged from 1.2 to 18.0 and 2.0 to 7.2 for water and oil, respectively.

A practical expert system is needed to handle POST weed control in herbicide-intensive crops such as wheat, barley, oat, rye, sugarbeet, corn, and sorghum. SELOMA is an expert system having a step-by-step problem-solving procedure closely resembling what a weed management expert would follow. It is based on field surveys of weed density, and crop and weed growth stage and height. SELOMA evaluates weed competitiveness and provides weed management advice. It suggests whether or not to intervene, chemical and mechanical weed control treatments, and selects the best herbicides, including commercial formulations, costs, and optimal dosages.

Four experiments (three in Macedonia, Greece and one in Holtville, CA) were conducted in 1988 and 1989 to evaluate foliar applications of picloram, glyphosate alone and with adjuvant, and triclopyr for the control of established silverleaf nightshade. Silverleaf nightshade control was determined by comparing stem population at the time of herbicide application to stem population 6 to 11 mo after application. Picloram, averaged over rate and location, controlled silverleaf nightshade consistently, restricting regrowth to less than 5%. Silverleaf nightshade control with glyphosate alone or with adjuvant varied with location, regrowth ranged from 0 to 69%. Regrowth of silverleaf nightshade treated with triclopyr approached that of the untreated control.

We present a germination and emergence model that can be used as a sub-model in an individual-based model of population dynamics. Seed germination and seedling elongation rates were measured in petri dishes in the laboratory for ivyleaf morningglory, velvetleaf, corn, and soybean seeds, as functions of temperature and water potential. The analysis yielded a set of indices: the germination temperature index (GTI), the germination water index (GWI), the emergence temperature index (ETI), and the emergence water index (EWI). The seed populations were divided into 100 discrete cohorts, with each cohort (i), having its own germination rate (GR) as the product of a reference rate and the germination indices, or GRi = GRiREF × GTI × GWI. After germination, the emergence rate (ER) was the product of a reference rate and emergence indices, or ERi = ERREF × ETI × EWI. The model was tested against the timing of emergence in the field for seeds planted 1, 2, 4, and 8 cm deep in natural or rain-excluded environments. The predictions were more accurate for all depths combined than for any particular depth.

The response of susceptible (S) and resistant (R) green foxtail biotypes to increasing dosages of trifluralin, applied PPI in rapeseed and preemergence incorporated (PEI) in wheat, was investigated in field experiments in 1989 and 1990. Differences in response between the biotypes to PPI- and PEI-trifluralin were 7- and 12-fold, respectively, based on density and shoot biomass determinations 4 wk after emergence. Nine- and 14-times higher dosages of PPI- and PEI-trifluralin, respectively, were required to reduce R-seed production by 50% than to reduce S-seed production by the same amount. At the recommended trifluralin dosage in rapeseed (1.4 kg ha−1), the density of S-plants 4 wk after emergence was reduced by 84% compared with untreated plots, whereas the density of R-plants was reduced by only 4%. The effective kill (seed yield reduction) was 99% and 42%, respectively. At the recommended dosage in wheat (0.9 kg ha−1), the density of S-plants 4 wk after emergence was reduced by over 99% compared with less than 36% for R-plants. The effective kill was 97% and 14%, respectively. Based on determination of effective kill, the selection pressure of trifluralin on green foxtail is greater when the chemical is applied PPI in rapeseed than when applied PEI in wheat, even though initial density reductions are less in the former than the latter.

Field studies were conducted to evaluate potato injury and weed control with postemergence-directed (PDIR) bromoxynil, glufosinate, or monocarbamide dihydrogen sulfate (MCDS). All three herbicides controlled hairy nightshade, common lambsquarters, redroot pigweed, and kochia ≥ 85%, depending on rate, with either mid- or late-PDIR treatment. Bromoxynil or MCDS caused 5 to 6% more initial injury with mid- than with late-PDIR treatment, but total yield and yield of U.S. #1 tubers were not reduced by either herbicide. PDIR glufosinate caused moderate injury at 0.84 kg ha−1, the rate needed for acceptable (≥ 85%) weed control. Total yield was reduced 10% and U.S. #1 yield was reduced 30% by PDIR glufosinate at 0.84 kg ha−1. Thus bromoxynil and MCDS showed potential for use as PDIR treatments in potatoes, but glufosinate did not.

Fenoxaprop, fluazifop/fluazifop-P, haloxyfop, and quizalofop at 0.14 kg ai ha−1 and sethoxydim at 0.28 kg ai ha−1 were applied broadcast over-the-top in spray volumes of 94 and 374 L ha−1, each at 138 and 345 kPa, to control johnsongrass in soybeans over a 5-yr period. The two spray volumes provided equal control, but control was better when treatments were applied at 345 kPa than at 138 kPa. There were no significant interactions among herbicides, spray volumes, or spray pressures. Most of the spray was deposited on the upper surface of the plant canopy. Less than 10% of the herbicide spray applied penetrated into the canopy onto water-sensitive spray cards located 10, 20, 30, or 40 cm above the ground.

Field experiments in 1988 and 1989 evaluated five POST herbicides alone or combined for horse purslane control in peanut. Acifluorfen, acifluorfen plus bentazon, pyridate plus 2,4-DB, and lactofen controlled more than 75% when rated up to 26 days after treatment (DAT). However at 67 DAT, acifluorfen alone, acifluorfen plus bentazon or 2,4-DB, or lactofen applied EPOST controlled horse purslane greater than 60% in 1988. In 1989, only 2,4-DB or pyridate plus 2,4-DB controlled horse purslane at least 70% at 116 DAT. Pyridate alone did not control horse purslane adequately.

Experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of tillage, rye residue levels, and control strategies on weed suppression and potato yield. Reduced tillage (RT) yields in 1989 were lower than in conventional tillage (CT) due to high hairy galinsoga populations. However, in 1990, potato yields were greater in RT when early emerging weeds were suppressed. Increasing residue levels up to 2300 kg ha−1 had no effect on weeds or yields in either year. In a separate study, preemergence herbicides (linuron plus metolachlor, 1.7 kg ai ha−1 each) applied 10 d after planting (DAP) in reduced tillage controlled weeds for 6 wk, but efficacy decreased after hilling. Metribuzin applied postemergence (0.19 kg ai ha−1) 7 d after hilling controlled late germinating weeds. Potato yields were greatest when the preemergence herbicides were applied.

Fluazifop-P, sethoxydim, and quizalofop were evaluated over two years for postemergence annual grass control in sweet potatoes. All treatments controlled broadleaf signalgrass and large crabgrass, but in 1987 only rates of at least 0.14 kg/ha of fluazifop-P and quizalofop and 0.28 kg/ha of sethoxydim controlled large crabgrass. No. 1 grade and total yield were greater from plots treated with herbicides compared with the weedy check in 1986. In 1987, No. 1 grade and total yield were greater in plots treated with fluazifop-P at 0.14 kg/ha or higher and sethoxydim or quizalofop at 0.28 kg/ha or higher.

Field experiments were conducted over a 3-yr period at three locations to evaluate lactofen at rates of 110 to 220 g ai ha−1 applied POST in combination with chlorimuron at 9 g ae ha−1 for weed control in soybean. At St. Joseph in 1989 and Baton Rouge in 1990, lactofen at 110, 150, and 170 g ha−1 in combination with chlorimuron controlled prickly sida (3 to 5 cm) and entireleaf and pitted morningglory (5 to 13 cm) comparable with the full rate of lactofen at 220 g ha−1 plus chlorimuron and the standard treatment of acifluorfen at 280 g ae ha−1 plus bentazon at 560 g ae ha−1. Entireleaf morningglory and sicklepod control at Alexandria with lactofen at 110 to 170 g ha−1 plus chlorimuron was comparable with that from the full rate of lactofen plus chlorimuron and better than with acifluorfen plus bentazon. Weed control was reduced when soil moisture was deficient at treatment time or when prickly sida height was more than 5 cm and entireleaf morningglory, pitted morningglory, and sicklepod more than 15 cm. In related studies at St. Joseph, a reduced rate of lactofen (170 g ha−1) in combination with chlorimuron controlled prickly sida 98%, pitted morningglory 93%, and entireleaf morningglory 90% in 1988, which was comparable with the control from the full rate of lactofen plus chlorimuron and with acifluorfen plus bentazon.

Field experiments were conducted using a stale seedbed production system to determine the effect of herbicide application time on preplant, preplant incorporated (PPI), and at-planting treatments on weed control and soybean yield. Herbicides were applied on the surface preplant (PPL) or PPI at 6 to 7, 4 to 5, and 2 to 3 wk before planting and just prior to planting. The differences in weed control and soybean yield among years were due to rainfall patterns 2 wk after herbicide application and during the growing season. Preplant treatments applied 2 to 5 wk before planting generally controlled common cocklebur and pitted morningglory better than preplant treatments applied 6 to 7 wk before planting due to persistence of herbicide activity or treatments at planting due to a greater chance of obtaining adequate rainfall for herbicide activation, more uniform seedbed at planting, and larger weeds at application. Metribuzin plus chlorimuron was less suited than imazaquin as a preplant treatment when applied more than 2 weeks before planting.

Persistence of BAY SMY 1500 and chlorsulfuron during storage for 0 to 6 mo at room temperature in air-dry clay loam soil with pH 7.6 and sandy loam soil with pH 6.6 was determined with conventional wheat bioassay procedures. BAY SMY 1500 had predicted half-lives greater than 6 mo in both soils. Half-lives of chlorsulfuron were 6.0 and 3.2 mo in the clay loam soil and sandy loam soil, respectively.

Carryover potential of imazaquin (0.14 kg ai ha−1), chlorimuron plus metribuzin (0.06 + 0.36 kg ha−1), and fomesafen (0.28 kg ha−1) to snap bean, watermelon, cucumber, mustard, and sunflower was evaluated in Arkansas in 1987 to 1989. Crops were direct-seeded into treated plots at various times after application. Imazaquin and chlorimuron plus metribuzin injured sunflower, watermelon, cucumber, and mustard when planted 16 wk following application in one of two years. Fomesafen injured all crops initially but did not injure snap bean, sunflower, watermelon, and cucumber planted 16 wk after application. In experiments in which herbicides were applied to soybean, fall-planted spinach and mustard were injured in one of two years.