Intermediate wheatgrass (IWG) is a cool-season perennial grass developed as a dual-purpose grain and forage crop. One barrier to adopting this crop is a lack of information on the effects of herbicides on IWG for grain production. An experiment was conducted to evaluate herbicide effects on IWG grain yield, crop injury, and weed control over 2 yr (2019 to 2021) at sites in Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York, and North Dakota. This evaluation included broadleaf herbicides registered for use on wheat: 2,4-D amine, clopyralid, MCPA, and a mixture of clopyralid + MCPA (all are categorized as Group 4 herbicides by the Weed Science Society of America). Each herbicide or mixture was applied at 1× and 2× the labeled wheat application rate to newly planted and established (1- to 5-yr-old) IWG stands in the fall or spring. Herbicides were applied during IWG tillering or jointing stages in the fall or during the jointing stage in the spring. Across site years, application timing, herbicide, and application rate showed no effect on IWG grain yield or plant injury. Broadleaf weed control ranged from 71% to 92% across herbicide treatments relative to the nontreated check at the Wisconsin site, whereas weed control at the Minnesota site was variable among treatments. At the New York site, herbicides were equally effective for broadleaf weed suppression, whereas weed pressure was very low at the North Dakota site and treatments did not affect weed cover. The results show that newly planted and established stands of IWG are tolerant to the synthetic auxin herbicides 2,4-D amine, clopyralid, and MCPA when applied during tillering or jointing in the fall or during jointing in the spring. Synthetic auxins represent a potentially useful tool for weed control in IWG cropping systems, especially for problematic broadleaf weed species.

Research was conducted from 2015 to 2017 to investigate the potential for 2,4-D and multiple herbicide resistance in a waterhemp [Amaranthus tuberculatus (Moq.) J. D. Sauer] population from Missouri (designated MO-Ren). In the field, visual control of the MO-Ren population with 0.56 to 4.48 kg 2,4-D ha−1 ranged from 26% to 77% in 2015 and from 15% to 55% in 2016. The MO-Ren population was highly resistant to chlorimuron, with visual control never exceeding 7% either year. Estimates of the 2,4-D dose required to provide 50% visual control (I50) of the MO-Ren population were 1.44 kg ha−1 compared with only 0.47 kg 2,4-D ha−1 for the susceptible population. Based on comparisons to a susceptible population in dose–response experiments, the MO-Ren population was approximately 3-fold resistant to 2,4-D, and 7-, 7-, 22-, and 14-fold resistant to atrazine, fomesafen, glyphosate, and mesotrione, respectively. Dicamba and glufosinate were the only two herbicides that provided effective control of the MO-Ren population in these experiments. Examinations of multiple herbicide resistance at the individual plant level revealed that 16% of the plants of the MO-Ren population contained genes stacked for six-way herbicide resistance, and only 1% of plants were classified as resistant to a single herbicide (glyphosate). Results from these experiments confirm that the MO-Ren A. tuberculatus population is resistant to 2,4-D, atrazine, chlorimuron, fomesafen, glyphosate, and mesotrione, making this population the third 2,4-D–resistant A. tuberculatus population identified in the United States, and the first population resistant to six different herbicidal modes of action.

Field trials were conducted during 1998 and 1999 to evaluate the effects of sequential herbicide treatment, herbicide application timing, and mowing on mugwort control. In the first field trial dicamba, triclopyr, clopyralid, picloram, metsulfuron, glufosinate, glyphosate, and the dimethylamine salt and the isooctyl ester of 2,4-D were applied to mugwort at 7-wk intervals to evaluate mugwort control after one, two, and three herbicide applications. When applied in three sequential applications, all herbicides except triclopyr, metsulfuron, and glufosinate provided at least 70% mugwort control 1 yr after treatment (YAT). At least 70% mugwort control was also achieved with just two sequential applications of dicamba, and only one application of picloram or clopyralid provided 100 and 84% mugwort control 1 YAT, respectively. In the second field trial the influence of application timing was investigated by applying herbicides to mugwort in the vegetative and the flowering stages of growth. Additionally, the effect of sequential mowing was evaluated by applying herbicides to mugwort regrowth after either one or two mowings. Generally, there was no difference in the level of mugwort control achieved with applications of these herbicides to mugwort in the flowering vs. the vegetative stage of growth. However, when averaged over all the herbicides included in these trials, two sequential mowings conducted before herbicide application enhanced the control of mugwort compared with either unmowed mugwort or mugwort that had been mowed once before herbicide application. Additionally, with the exception of picloram and glyphosate, all the herbicides evaluated in these trials provided higher mugwort control when applied to unmowed mugwort compared with mugwort that had been mowed only once. The results from these trials indicate that sequential herbicide treatment and sequential mowing are strategies that will enhance the control of mugwort when used with the majority of herbicides evaluated in these trials.

Field trials were conducted in Virginia during 2000 and 2001 to evaluate long-term trumpetcreeper control in corn with dicamba, BAS 654 plus dicamba, 2,4-D, CGA 152005 plus primisulfuron, halosulfuron, primisulfuron, and mesotrione. Each of these herbicides was applied alone as a single postemergence (POST) treatment or as a component of a POST herbicide combination. Trumpetcreeper suppression ratings 3 mo after treatment (MAT) revealed a general trend toward higher levels of suppression with combinations of dicamba, BAS 654 plus dicamba, or 2,4-D with any of the sulfonylurea herbicides and lower levels of suppression with applications of any of the sulfonylurea herbicides alone. Combinations of dicamba, BAS 654 plus dicamba, or 2,4-D with mesotrione also provided some of the highest levels of trumpetcreeper suppression 3 MAT in both years. At 1 yr after treatment (YAT), 2,4-D alone, BAS 654 plus dicamba, CGA 152005 plus primisulfuron plus 280 g ai/ha dicamba, primisulfuron plus 280 g/ha dicamba, primisulfuron plus 2,4-D, mesotrione plus BAS 654 plus dicamba, and mesotrione plus 2,4-D reduced trumpetcreeper stem density by at least 52% when compared with that of the nontreated control. These herbicide treatments were the only ones that provided reductions in trumpetcreeper stem density 1 YAT when compared with that of the nontreated control. In 2000 and 2001, there were few differences in corn yield among the treatments evaluated in these trials, and no treatment resulted in corn yields that were lower than the nontreated control. Acceptable trumpetcreeper suppression may be achieved during the season of treatment with any of these herbicide combinations, but only a few treatments will provide long-term trumpetcreeper control.

An accession of auxinic herbicide-resistant yellow starthistle found near Dayton, WA, was tested to evaluate cross-resistance to growth regulator herbicides and susceptibility to herbicides with different modes of action. Picloram at 0.43 kg ae/ha removed susceptible (S) yellow starthistle plants from a field plot, and surviving resistant (R) plants were dug and moved to the greenhouse. Known S plants were transplanted from a pasture near the R population. The R biotype was reconfirmed as resistant to picloram in greenhouse tests, with resistance ratios of 5.6 and 3.8 for vegetative and reproductive biomass, respectively, and 10.2 for LD50 (lethal dose for 50% of the treated population) data. The R biotype was also cross-resistant to clopyralid and dicamba in all responses and to 2,4-D and triclopyr in vegetative biomass and LD50 data. In field trials, eight herbicides were applied alone and in various combinations with and without addition of picloram. The yellow starthistle population was apparently comprised of differing percentages of R and S plants in 1997 and 1998, as picloram alone controlled 65 to 76% of the yellow starthistle in 1997 and 96 to 97% in 1998. BAS 662 01H (dicamba + SAN 836) at 0.28 or 0.42 kg ae/ha, respectively, or dicamba at 0.56 kg ae/ha were the best alternative treatments in either trial in either year, but only in 1998 did control exceed 85%. Picloram and other auxinic herbicides should continue to be useful for control of mixed R and S yellow starthistle populations. However, effective herbicides with different mode(s) of action integrated with range improvement practices and biological control must be identified for long-term yellow starthistle management.

A waterhemp population from a native-grass seed production field in Nebraska was no longer effectively controlled by 2,4-D. Seed was collected from the site, and dose-response studies were conducted to determine if this population was herbicide resistant. In the greenhouse, plants from the putative resistant and a susceptible waterhemp population were treated with 0, 18, 35, 70, 140, 280, 560, 1,120, or 2,240 g ae ha−1 2,4-D. Visual injury estimates (I) were made 28 d after treatment (DAT), and plants were harvested and dry weights (GR) measured. The putative resistant population was approximately 10-fold more resistant to 2,4-D (R:S ratio) than the susceptible population based on both I50 (50% visual injury) and GR50 (50% reduction in dry weight) values. The R:S ratio increased to 19 and 111 as the data were extrapolated to I90 and GR90 estimates, respectively. GR50 doses of 995 g ha−1 for the resistant and 109 g ha−1 for the susceptible populations were estimated. A field dose-response study was conducted at the suspected resistant site with 2,4-D doses of 0, 140, 280, 560, 1,120, 2,240, 4,480, 8,960, 17,920, and 35,840 g ha−1. At 28 DAT, visual injury estimates were 44% in plots treated with 35,840 g ha−1. Some plants treated with the highest rate recovered and produced seed. Plants from the resistant and susceptible populations were also treated with 0, 9, 18, 35, 70, 140, 280, 560, or 1,120 g ae ha−1 dicamba in greenhouse bioassays. The 2,4-D resistant population was threefold less sensitive to dicamba based on I50 estimates but less than twofold less sensitive based on GR50 estimates. The synthetic auxins are the sixth mechanism-of-action herbicide group to which waterhemp has evolved resistance.

Synthetic auxin herbicides have long been utilized for the selective control of broadleaf weeds in a variety of crop and noncrop environments. Recently, two agrochemical companies have begun to develop soybean with resistance to 2,4-D and dicamba which might lead to an increase in the application of these herbicides in soybean production areas in the near future. Additionally, little research has been published pertaining to the effects of a newly-discovered synthetic auxin herbicide, aminocyclopyrachlor, on soybean phytotoxicity. Two field trials were conducted in 2011 and 2012 to evaluate the effects of sublethal rates of 2,4-D amine, aminocyclopyrachlor, aminopyralid, clopyralid, dicamba, fluroxypyr, picloram, and triclopyr on visible estimates of soybean injury, height reduction, maturity, yield, and yield components. Each of these herbicides was applied to soybean at the V3 and R2 stages of growth at 0.028, 0.28, 2.8, and 28 g ae ha−1. Greater height reductions occurred with all herbicides, except 2,4-D amine and triclopyr when applied at the V3 compared to the R2 stage of growth. Greater soybean yield loss occurred with all herbicides except 2,4-D amine when applied at the R2 compared to the V3 stage of growth. The only herbicide applied that resulted in no yield loss at either stage was 2,4-D amine. When applied at 28 g ae ha−1 at the V3 stage of growth, the general order of herbicide-induced yield reductions to soybean from greatest to least was aminopyralid > aminocyclopyrachlor = clopyralid = picloram > fluroxypyr > triclopyr > dicamba > 2,4-D amine. At the R2 stage of growth, the general order of herbicide-induced yield reductions from greatest to least was aminopyralid > aminocyclopyrachlor = picloram > clopyralid > dicamba > fluroxypyr = triclopyr > 2,4-D amine. Yield reductions appeared to be more correlated with seeds per pod than to pods per plant and seed weight. An 18- to 26-d delay in soybean maturity also occurred with R2 applications of all synthetic auxin herbicides at 28 g ae ha−1 except 2,4-D. Results from this research indicate that there are vast differences in the relative phytotoxicity of these synthetic auxin herbicides to soybean, and that the timing of the synthetic auxin herbicide exposure will have a significant impact on the severity of soybean height and/or yield reductions.