Field studies were conducted in Wyoming and Nebraska in 2007 through 2009 to evaluate winter wheat response to aminocyclopyrachlor. Aminocyclopyrachlor was applied at rates between 15 and 120 g ai ha-1 6, 4, and 2 mo before winter wheat planting (MBP). Redroot pigweed control was 90% with aminocyclopyrachlor rates of 111 and 50 g ha-1 when applied 4 or 2 MBP. Aminocyclopyrachlor at 37 g ha-1 co…
The inclusion of winter cereals in spring-annual rotations in the northern Great Plains may reduce weed populations and herbicide requirements. A broad range of spring and winter cereals were compared for ability to suppress weeds and maximize grain yield at Lacombe (2002 to 2005) and Lethbridge (2003 to 2005), Alberta, Canada. High seeding rates (≥ 400 seeds/m2) were used in all years to max…
† Background and Aims: The morphological variability of the flower in angiosperms, combined with its relatively simple structure, makes it an excellent model to study cell specification and the establishment of morphogenetic patterns. Flowers are the products of floral meristems, which are determinate structures that generate four different types of floral organs before terminating. The prec…
In the rice–wheat (RW) systems of the Indo-Gangetic Plains of South Asia, conservation tillage practices, including zerotillage (ZT), are being promoted to address emerging problems such as (1) shortages of labor and water, (2) declining factor productivity, (3) deterioration of soil health, and (4) climate change. Despite multiple benefits of ZT, weed control remains a major challenge to ado…
Organic agricultural systems increase the complexity of weed management, leading organic farmers to cite weeds as one of the greatest barriers to organic production. Integrated Weed Management (IWM) systems have been developed to address the ecological implications of weeds and weed management in cropping systems, but adoption is minimal. Organic agriculture offers a favorable context for a…
In northern U.S. vegetable cropping systems, attempts at no-till (NT) production have generally failed because of poor crop establishment and delayed cropmaturity. Strip tillage (ST) minimizes these problems by targeting tillage to the zone where crops are planted whilemaintaining untilled zones between crop rows, which foster improvements in soil quality. ST has been shown to maintain crop yie…
Desiccation following prolonged air exposure challenges survival of aquatic plants during droughts, water drawdowns, and overland dispersal. To improve predictions of plant response to air exposure, we observed the viability of vegetative fragments of 10 aquatic plant species (Cabomba caroliniana, Ceratophyllum demersum, Elodea canadensis, Egeria densa, Myriophyllum aquaticum, Myriophyllum he…
Reduced-tillage systems including no-tillage and striptillage have well-known benefits for conserving and improving soils, protecting vulnerable crops from extreme weather events, and reducing labor and fuel costs associated with full-width inversion tillage. Despite these benefits, reduced-tillage has not been widely adopted in many cropping systems due in part to the increased difficulty of m…
The widespread evolution of multiple herbicide resistance in the most serious annual weeds infesting Australian cropping fields has forced the development of alternative, non-chemical weed control strategies, especially new techniques at grain harvest. Harvest weed seed control (HWSC) systems target weed seed during commercial grain harvest operations and act to minimize fresh seed inputs to th…
Saflufenacil (KixorTM) is a new protoporphyrinogen IX oxidase (PPO) inhibiting herbicide for preplant burndown and selective PRE dicot weed control in multiple crops, including corn. The biokinetic properties and the mechanism of selectivity of saflufenacil in corn, black nightshade, and tall morningglory were investigated. After root treatment of plants at the third-leaf stage, the difference …
Herbicides are the foundation of weed control in commercial crop-production systems. However, herbicide-resistant (HR) weed populations are evolving rapidly as a natural response to selection pressure imposed by modern agricultural management activities. Mitigating the evolution of herbicide resistance depends on reducing selection through diversification of weed control techniques, minimizing …
In little over 20 yr, Palmer amaranth has risen from relative obscurity to its current status as one of the most widespread, troublesome, and economically damaging agronomic weeds in the southeastern U.S. Numerous factors have enabled Palmer amaranth to become such a dominant and difficult-to-control weed, including its rapid growth rate, high fecundity, genetic diversity, ability to tolerate a…
Cover crop–based organic rotational no-till soybean production has attracted attention from farmers, researchers, and other agricultural professionals because of the ability of this new system to enhance soil conservation, reduce labor requirements, and decrease diesel fuel use compared to traditional organic production. This system is based on the use of cereal rye cover crops that are mecha…
The introduction of herbicide-resistant crops and postemergence herbicides with a wide action spectrum shifted the research focus from how to when crops should be treated. To maximize net return of herbicide applications, the evolution of weed–crop competition over time must be considered and its effects quantified. A model for predicting the yield trend in relation to weed removal time, cons…
Natural herbicides approved in organic agriculture are primarily nonselective burn-down essential oils applied POST. Multiple applications are often required due to their low efficacy. To address this problem, the in vivo herbicidal activity of manuka oil, the essential oil distilled from manuka tree (Leptospermum scoparium J.R. and G. Forst), was tested on selected broadleaf and grass weeds. W…
A study was conducted in summer fallow fields near Davenport, WA, and Pendleton, OR, in 2007 and 2008 to evaluate the POST weed control efficacy of herbicide treatments applied with a light-activated, sensor-controlled (LASC) sprayer compared to the broadcast application of glyphosate. The LASC application of glyphosate alone (at all rates) and in mixture with pyrasulfotole plus bromoxynil or 2…
Seed production of annual weeds persisting through cropping phases replenishes/establishes viable seed banks from which these weeds will continue to interfere with crop production. Harvest weed seed control (HWSC) systems are now viewed as an effective means of interrupting this process by targeting mature weed seed, preventing seed bank inputs. However, the efficacy of these systems is dire…
Herbicides are small molecules that inhibit specific molecular target sites within plant biochemical pathways and/or physiological processes. Inhibition of these sites often has catastrophic consequences that are lethal to plants. The affinity of these compounds for their respective target sites makes them useful tools to study and dissect the intricacies of plant biochemical and physiological …
Development of herbicide-resistant crops has resulted in significant changes to agronomic practices, one of which is the adoption of effective, simple, low-risk, crop-production systems with less dependency on tillage and lower energy requirements. Overall, the changes have had a positive environmental effect by reducing soil erosion, the fuel use for tillage, and the number of herbicides with …
Extensive areas in the upper Midwest have been invaded by spotted knapweed, and effective management strategies are required to reestablish native plant communities. We examined effects of mowing, mowing plus clopyralid, or mowing plus glyphosate in factorial combination with hand pulling and burning on knapweed abundances on a knapweed-infested site in western Michigan. We applied mowing and h…
The ecology of tropical bracken, which occurs in tropical regions, is not well known. We studied its response to weather variations and burning in the south Ecuadorian Andes, where this weed had already overgrown 40% of the pastureland. In field observations, a constant 1 : 1 ratio of emerging and dying leaves suggested limitation of frond density by nutrient shortage. Short-term deviations fro…
Herbicides are the primary method used to control exotic, invasive plants. This study evaluated restoration efforts applied to grasslands dominated by an invasive plant, sulfur cinquefoil, 6 yr after treatments. Of the five herbicides we evaluated, picloram continued to provide the best control of sulfur cinquefoil over 6 yr. We found the timing of picloram applications to be important to the n…
Resistance to glufosinate has been confirmed in glyphosate-resistant Italian ryegrass populations collected in hazelnut orchards in Oregon. Dose–response, ammonia accumulation, and enzyme activity studies were conducted to test the sensitivity of three glyphosate-resistant and three susceptible Italian ryegrass populations to glufosinate. The glufosinate rates required to reduce the growth by…
Johnsongrass is one of the most troublesome weeds of the world and is listed as a noxious weed in Arkansas. Reduced johnsongrass control with the recommended application rate of glyphosate (840 g ae ha21) was reported in a continuous soybean field near West Memphis, AR, in the fall of 2007. A greenhouse study was conducted (1) to confirm and characterize glyphosate resistance in the johnsongras…
Re-seeding efforts to restore or rehabilitate Great Basin rangelands invaded by exotic annual grasses are expensive and have generally achieved limited success. There is a need to identify new strategies to improve restoration outcomes. We tested the performance of a native early seral seed mix (annual forbs, early seral grasses and shrubs) with that of a native late seral mix representative of…
The challenges associated with the adoption of conservation tillage and/or low-input cropping systems, whether organic or herbicide-free, across Canada are shaped by scale, environment, and local practices. A study in eastern Canada captured the challenges of introducing low-input cropping systems in mature (20þ yr) tillage treatments in a barley/red clover/corn/soybean rotation. Each mature t…
Auxinic herbicides are widely used for control of broadleaf weeds in cereal crops and turfgrass. These herbicides are structurally similar to the natural plant hormone auxin, and induce several of the same physiological and biochemical responses at low concentrations. After several decades of research to understand the auxin signal transduction pathway, the receptors for auxin binding and resul…
Prairies are imperiled habitats, with remnants being generally small and often existing in isolation. Invasive plants have the potential to invade not just the edge of small remnants but also the interior because smaller remnants experience greater edge effects than do large, contiguous prairies. Additionally, invasive plants limit recruitment of native plants, which can arrest secondary succes…
Noninversion tillage with tine- or disc-based cultivations prior to crop establishment is the most common way of reducing tillage for arable cropping systems with small grain cereals, oilseed rape, and maize in Europe. However, new regulations on pesticide use might hinder further expansion of reduced-tillage systems. European agriculture is asked to become less dependent on pesticides and prom…
Weeds cause crop loss indirectly by reducing the quantity of resources available for growth. Quantifying the effects of weed interference on nitrogen (N) supply, crop growth, and N nutrition may assist in making both N and weed management decisions. Experiments were conducted to quantify the effect of N addition and weed interference on soil nitrate-N (NO3-N) over time and the dependence of cor…
With growing agricultural demands from both conventional and organic systems comes the need for sustainable practices to ensure long-term productivity. Implementation of reduced- or no-till practices offers a number of environmental benefits for agricultural land and maintains adequate yield for current and future production. Concerns over satisfactory pest control options, particularly weed co…
Researchers, product registration personnel, and growers desire the ability to chemically detect residual amounts of herbicides in soil at concentrations below those necessary to cause phytotoxicity to sensitive nontarget or rotational crop plants. Alfalfa, cotton, soybean, and sunflower, crops sensitive to low concentrations of aminocyclopyrachlor in soil, were planted at field test sites appr…
As cases of resistance to herbicides escalate worldwide, there is increasing demand from growers to test for weed resistance and learn how to manage it. Scientists have developed resistance-testing protocols for numerous herbicides and weed species. Growers need immediate answers and scientists are faced with the daunting task of testing an increasingly large number of samples across a variety …
Agroecosystems are inherently complex, and practices aimed at managing one component of the system can have unintended consequences for other components of the system. Management decisions, therefore, can be improved by assessing and understanding the multivariate nature of agricultural systems and the multifunctional character of particular agricultural management practices. The act of simult…
Glyphosate is regularly used to control annual bluegrass populations in dormant bermudagrass turf. A population of annual bluegrass not controlled by glyphosate at 840 g ha-1 (glyphosate resistant, GR) was identified on a golf course in Humboldt, TN in 2010. Mature tillers of GR plants were established in a greenhouse and treated with glyphosate at 0, 210, 420, 840, 1,680, 3,360, and 6,720 g ha…
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, …
Recent development of site-specific weed management strategies suggests patch application of herbicides to avoid their excessive use in crops. The estimation of infestation of weeds and control thresholds are important components for taking spray decisions. If weed pressure is below a certain level in some parts of the field and if late germinating weeds do not affect yield, it may not be nece…
Summary Diversified cropping systems can have high soil microbial biomass and thus strong potential to reduce the weed seedbank through seed decay. This study, conducted in Iowa, USA, evaluated the hypothesis that weed seed decay is higher in a diversified 4-year maize–soyabean–oat/lucerne–lucerne cropping system than in a conventional 2-year maize–soyabean rotation. Mesh bags fill…