Ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam. # LOLMU) control in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) using chlorsulfuron {2-chloro-N-[[(4-methoxy-6-methyl-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl) amino] carbonyl] benzenesulfonamide} at 35 g ai/ha was significantly higher when applied preemergence (pre) than early postemergence (poe) to ryegrass with two to four leaves and wheat with three to five tillers. Metribuzin [4-amino-6-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-3-(methylthio)-1,2,4-triazin-5(4H)-one] applied at 420 g ai/ha early poe controlled more than 95% of the ryegrass, but control was unacceptable when the same rate was applied late poe when the ryegrass was at midtiller and wheat at full tiller. Wheat leaf burn, stunting, and stand reduction occurred where metribuzin was applied early poe but yields were not affected. Ryegrass control was excellent where diclofop {(±)-2-[4-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)phenoxy] propanoic acid} was applied early poe at 560 g ai/ha. Wheat yields, averaged over years, for early poe applications of chlorsulfuron at 35 g/ha, metribuzin at 280 and 420 g/ha, and diclofop at 560 g/ha were 22, 22, 24, and 20% higher, respectively, than the untreated stands. Injury associated with the herbicide treatments was not observed on soybeans [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] planted following wheat.

Experiments in controlled-environment chambers indicated that high temperature, 30 C, increased the phytotoxicity of bromoxynil (3,5-dibromo-4-hydroxybenzonitrile) to wild mustard (Sinapis arvensis L. # SINAR) and redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus L. # AMARE) compared to low temperature, 10 C, during and after treatment. Bromoxynil phytotoxicity generally was higher at relative humidities of 90 to 95% compared to 40 to 60%, but relative humidity had less influence on bromoxynil phytotoxicity than did temperature. A simulated rain immediately after bromoxynil treatment reduced control of both species, but the reduction was of no practical importance for wild mustard. The data indicate that wild mustard and redroot pigweed control would be reduced by bromoxynil application during a period of low temperatures or to plants in advanced growth stages.

In greenhouse studies, Fusarium lateritium Nees ex Fr. was effective in suppressing the growth of velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti Medic. # ABUTH) and prickly sida (Sida spinosa L. # SIDSP). Sprays containing conidia of the fungus and fungus-infested sodium alginate-kaolin clay granules controlled both weeds in corn (Zea mays L.), cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), and soybeans [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] without causing a reduction in dry weight of the crops. In field tests, postemergence foliar applications of the fungus controlled velvetleaf and prickly sida 40 and 80%, respectively, in 1982, but controlled only 27 and 34% of velvetleaf and prickly sida, respectively, in 1983. Preemergence applications of the fungus in the granule formulation controlled velvetleaf and prickly sida 46 and 59%, respectively, in 1982. In 1983, this treatment controlled the weeds 35 and 38%, respectively.

Research was conducted to determine the effect of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) straw mulch level on weed control in a winter wheat-ecofallow corn (Zea mays L.)-fallow rotation at North Platte and Sidney, NE, in 1981 and 1982. Wheat straw mulch was established at 0, 1.7, 3.4, 5.1, and 6.8 Mg/ha in stubble fields. After application of 1.5 times the recommended rate at corn planting, metolachlor [2-chloro-N-(2-ethyl-6-methylphenyl)-N-(2-methoxy-1-methylethyl)acetamide] concentration remained higher in unmulched soil than in mulched soil for more than 4 months, due to interception of metolachlor by the mulch. Even though the amount of metolachlor in the soil was reduced by mulch, weed control was not reduced and increased with increasing mulch level. Thus, increasing metolachlor rate was not necessary to maintain adequate weed control in no-till winter wheat stubble since mulch itself provided some measure of weed control.

Carbon-14-labeled glyphosate [N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine] was foliarly applied to ligustrum (Ligustrum japonicum Thunb.) and blue pacific juniper (Juniperus conferta Parl. ‘Blue Pacific’) at the following growth stages: cold acclimation, winter dormancy, budbreak, shoot elongation, and termination of the first flush of growth (shoot termination). At shoot elongation juniper plants absorbed 2% of applied 14C by 14 days after treatment (DAT). Applications at other growth stages resulted in no significant absorption of 14C by junipers. Within 7 DAT the amounts of radioactivity absorbed by ligustrum were significant and depended upon growth stage in the following order: budbreak < shoot termination < shoot elongation. Absorption by overwintered leaves occurred at budbreak but not at elongation or termination. Transport of absorbed 14C in ligustrum was primarily acropetal and occurred only in budbreak and flowering treatments. Differences in tolerance to glyphosate between juniper and ligustrum appear to be related to differential absorption. Seasonal differences in ligustrum tolerance also appear to be associated with differences in absorption. Although growth stage affected transport in ligustrum, differential transport does not appear to play a major role in seasonal influences on long-term glyphosate phytotoxicity.

Evidence has shown that fluometuron {N,N-dimethyl-N′-[3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]urea} persists beyond the end of the growing season when used in continuous cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) production. Samples were taken from three soils following cotton production in 1980, 1981, and 1982. All three soils had been in production under the same herbicide use regime, fluometuron preemergence followed by fluometuron plus MSMA (monosodium methanearsonate), since either 1976 or 1977. The fluometuron remaining in each soil was quantified using a greenhouse bioassay and a chemical extraction technique followed by high-performance liquid chromatography determinations. The fluometuron concentrations determined by bioassay and chemical extraction methods had partial correlation coefficients of 0.62, 0.91, and 0.72 for a Sharkey silty clay, a Dundee silt loam, and a Loring silt loam, respectively. Predictive equations were determined for each soil to relate chemical extraction findings to plant response. Bioassay analysis indicated nearly 2 ppmw of fluometuron in the Sharkey silty clay in October 1980, with 1 ppmw in the Dundee silt loam, and approximately 0.27 ppmw in the Loring silt loam with annual application rates of 4.0, 2.9, and 3.5 kg/ha, respectively. Fluometuron concentrations as determined by chemical analysis were 0.83, 0.34, and 0.14 ppmw, respectively. Fluometuron concentrations declined over the winter in all three soils. Samples taken in March of 1981, 1982, and 1983 showed little difference in carryover levels in the Sharkey silty clay but more yearly variation in the other two soils. Fluometuron was found in all three soils to depths of 60 cm, but more than 55% of the fluometuron was found in the upper 15 cm of each soil. A controlled laboratory study conducted with the three soils showed that both cold and dry conditions reduced fluometuron dissipation rates. In the laboratory under conditions favorable for dissipation, fluometuron had a half-life of 26 days in the Dundee silt loam, 43 days in the Loring silt loam, and 73 days in the Sharkey silty clay. In the field, dissipation was very rapid in the Loring silt loam compared to the Dundee silt loam and the Sharkey silty clay.

The response of corn (Zea mays L. ‘Sokota TS 46’), flax (Linum usitatissimum L. ‘Culbert 79’), grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Merr. ‘Sokota 466’), soybeans [Glycine max (L.) Merr. ‘Corsoy 79’], and sunflowers (Helianthus annuus L. ‘Sokata 4000’) to soil residues 12 and 24 months after application of 17, 34, and 68 g ai/ha chlorsulfuron {2-chloro-N-[[(4-methoxy-6-methyl-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl) amino] carbonyl] benzenesulfonamide} was determined at two locations, Redfield and Watertown, in eastern South Dakota. All crops at Redfield were injured significantly at 17 g/ha, 12 months after application as determined by plant dry weight and visual evaluations. Corn and sorghum were the most susceptible while flax was the least susceptible. Injury at Watertown was significantly less than at Redfield. Differences in carryover were related to a lower soil pH at Watertown.

Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) was planted in the fall; the seed cane was healthy or infected either with sugarcane mosaic virus (strain H) or with ratoon stunting disease (RSD) (Clavibacter xyli). Herbicide treatments were applied the following spring and each subsequent spring during the 3-yr crop cycle. Hexazinone [3-cyclohexyl-6-(dimethylamino)-1-methyl-1,3,5-triazine-2,4(1H,3H)-dione] at 1.1 kg ai/ha was applied as a soil foliage treatment when sugarcane was about 30 cm tall. The methyl ester of diclofop {(±)-2-[4-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)phenoxy] propanoic acid} at 1.1 kg ai/ha and the sodium salt of asulam {methyl [(4-aminophenyl)sulfonyl] carbamate} at 3.4 or 3.8 kg ai/ha were applied as foliage treatments when sugarcane was about 90 cm tall. Both mosaic and RSD reduced yield of sugar/ha by 16% for the 3-yr crop, primarily by causing a decrease in stalk population. Hexazinone reduced yield of sugar/ha by 24% primarily by causing a decrease in both stalk population and sugar content of stalks. Diclofop reduced yield by 7% and asulam caused no significant yield loss. Combinations of disease and herbicide treatment reduced yields in an additive manner, with the combination of hexazinone and either mosaic or RSD causing a 38% reduction.

Field experiments were conducted during 1980, 1981, and 1982 to evaluate the effect of tillage and sicklepod density on sicklepod (Cassia obtusifolia L. # CASOB) interference with soybeans [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] and soil water use. In the absence of sicklepod, soybean yields were similar in nontilled plots covered with a straw mulch and in conventionally tilled plots with no mulch in all years. In the presence of sicklepod, higher soybean yields were obtained with the non-tilled-mulched plots than with the tilled plots at corresponding sicklepod densities and sicklepod fresh weights. Early soil water loss was greater in the tilled plots with increasing sicklepod density causing lower soil water content in both tillage treatments. Soil water depletion was greater in the no-till treatments during the soybean pod-filling stage.

Forage quality was determined at vegetative, flowering, and fruiting stages for nine cool-season weed species and four cultivated forages. When compared at the vegetative stage of maturity, Carolina geranium (Geranium carolinianum L. # GERCA), Virginia pepperweed (Lepidium virginicum L. # LEPVI), Virginia wildrye (Elymus virginicus L. # ELYVI), wild oats (Avena fatua L. # AVEFA), cheat (Bromus secalinus L. # BROSE), and little barley (Hordeum pusillum Nutt. # HORPU) had high nutritive quality as indicated by in vitro dry-matter digestibility (IVDMD) values equal or superior to rye (Secale cereale L.), tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.), and ladino clover (Trifolium repens L.). Cutleaf evening primrose (Oenothera laciniata Hill # OEOLA) and curly dock (Rumex crispus L. # RUMCR) had lower IVDMD values than the cultivated forages and all weed species except wild oats. However, the rate of decline in IVDMD as plants matured was generally greater for the weed species compared to cultivated forage plants. All weed and cultivated forage species had adequate levels of Ca and K for livestock. Nearly all weed and cultivated forage species had suboptimum levels of P for high-producing ruminant animals; Carolina geranium and cutleaf evening primrose had high Ca:P ratios, which can cause metabolic disorders. Carolina geranium, Virginia wildrye, wild oats, cheat, little barley, and all the cultivated forage species had inadequate levels of Mg and could be considered “tetany prone”. Most of the forbs had high Mg concentrations.

All of us expect good food in adequate quantities. The question is how to reach this aim in the near future with an increasing world population (Table 1). A comparison of past figures with those forecast for the coming years tells us that in the near future the rate of population growth will greatly outpace the available arable land. Dietary energy requirements will increase. Consumption of grain crops will increase although on a smaller scale than in the past. The need for protein products will also continue to soar.