The persistence of biologically active metribuzin [4-amino-6-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-3-(methylthio)-1,2,4-triazin-5(4H)-one] and its ethylthio analog [4-amino-6-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-3-(ethylthio)-1,2,4-triazin-5(4H)-one] were compared using an intact-plant chlorophyll fluorescence bioassay technique with oats (Avena sativa L.) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Degradation of metribuzin phytotoxicity at concentrations of 0 to 1 ppm (w/w) ai in a Pond Creek silt loam soil was linear over time, with a half-life of 8 days at 35 C. Initial degradation of the biologically active ethylthio analog was much more rapid than for metribuzin, with a decrease in rate at later time intervals. A quadratic function best described this degradation pattern. The initial degradation rate of phytotoxicity for the ethylthio analog indicated a half-life of 4 days at 35 C. Soil pH had no significant influence on the activity or persistence of either herbicide within the range 4.9 to 6.9.

The efficacy of sulfonylurea herbicides impregnated on granular fertilizers applied PPI or POST was compared to broadcast spray applications for annual broadleaf weed control in winter wheat. Henbit and bushy wallflower were controlled by chlorsulfuron or triasulfuron impregnated onto diammonium phosphate granular fertilizer applied PPI. Efficacy of these herbicides for annual broadleaf weed control was reduced by applying them POST with granular urea fertilizer carrier instead of with water carrier.

Fourteen field experiments were conducted from 1988 to 1991 in Oklahoma to evaluate herbicides for red horned poppy control in winter wheat. Chlorsulfuron applied alone PRE at 9 to 26 g ai ha-1 or with metsulfuron controlled red horned poppy 90 to 100% in four of five locations. MCPA at 420 g ae ha-1 and MCPA + bromoxynil at 140 + 140 g ae ha-1 applied POST in mid November controlled red horned poppy 100%. All herbicides applied POST in mid March failed to control the weed consistently.

The efficacy of herbicides applied broadcast by hand with a soil carrier or sprayed with water carrier were compared for Italian ryegrass control in winter wheat in central Oklahoma. Italian ryegrass was controlled 77 to 100% with BAY SMY 1500, chlorsulfuron, and CGA-131036 applied with both carriers. Metribuzin applied POST with 187 L ha–1 water was less phytotoxic to Italian ryegrass and wheat than with 200 kg ha–1 soil. All herbicides applied with 200 kg ha–1 silt loam soil as carrier at two locations controlled Italian ryegrass 96 to 100%. Increasing herbicide rate, soil carrier quantity, or broadcasting soil-carried herbicide in two directions rather than one did not significantly improve herbicide efficacy over that of conventional spraying.

Field experiments were conducted to determine factors that predispose winter wheat to injury by sulfonylurea herbicides. Wheat was injured occasionally when herbicides were applied postemergence in November or when tank mixed with malathion. CGA 131036 at 28 or 56 g ha-1 was less injurious than chlorsulfuron or DPX-G8311 at 26 or 53 g ha-1, and preemergence treatments of chlorsulfuron and DPX-G8311 were less injurious than preplant incorporated or postemergence treatments. Wheat growth stage, minimum post-treatment daily temperature, and summed diurnal temperature fluctuations after treatment and after first post-treatment rainfall were correlated with wheat injury. Grazing and cultivar selection did not affect injury.

Field experiments were conducted to determine the interaction of grazing and herbicide treatments on cheat control and biomass, wheat biomass, wheat grain yield, and wheat yield components. Ethyl-metribuzin at 1120 g ai ha−1 and metribuzin at 420 g ai ha−1 reduced cheat biomass 91 to 99 and 97 to 98%, respectively. Grazing had no effect on herbicide efficacy. Grazing increased cheat biomass in the check by 24% at only one location but did not affect total wheat plus cheat biomass. With one exception, controlled cheat was replaced by wheat on a 1:1 biomass basis when herbicides caused no crop injury. All herbicide treatments increased grain yield, but grazing did not alter yield. At two locations, increased heads m−2 and spikelets/head accounted for most of the grain yield increases, but at one location seeds/spikelet and weight/seed were also increased. Harvest index was unaffected.

Seed of three weed species collected from the grain bins of combines while standing hard red winter wheat was harvested germinated better than hand-harvested seed. Combine-harvested curly dock seed germinated from 4 to 24% more than hand-harvested seed. Curly dock seed harvested with a commercial-type combine germinated better than those harvested with a small-plot combine. Harvesting slimleaf lambsquarters and Venice mallow seed with a commercial-type combine also enhanced germination compared to hand-harvested seed.

Postemergence spring applications of picloram and picloram plus 2,4-D frequently reduced mature height and peduncle length of hard red winter wheat in field experiments. Yield reductions were more severe from picloram applied alone to the first joint growth stage than late tillering stage wheat. In two of six experiments picloram plus 2,4-D reduced yield more than picloram alone. Yields of four wheat cultivars were reduced by picloram and picloram plus 2,4-D at one of two locations. At the second location only the yield of ‘Chisholm’ and ‘Rohm and Haas Seed 7837’ were reduced by those herbicides.

Field experiments were conducted in Oklahoma to determine the effects of row spacing, cultivar, seeding rate, and water or ammonium polyphosphate fertilizer injection in the row at seeding, on the competitiveness of hard red winter wheat with cheat. Decreasing row spacing from 23 to 8 cm increased yield of weed-free wheat at two of three locations and cheat-infested wheat in six of ten experiments. Increasing seeding rate from 265 to 530 seeds m-2 increased wheat yield. Injecting water at 20 ml m-1 of row at seeding did not increase wheat emergence or yield. Cheat seed production was not consistently suppressed by any one cultivar. Juvenile growth habit was unrelated to wheat competitiveness.

As an agrestal weed, downy brome (Bromus tectorum L. # BROTE) is most troublesome in winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L. # TRIAE) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa L. # MEDSA) because of the ability of downy brome to reproduce prior to crop harvesting (70, 76). Geographically, downy brome is most common in the western half of the United States where annual rainfall totals 15 to 55 cm and autumn rainfall ranges from 5 to 12 cm (10, 11, 86, 98). In contrast, cheat (Bromus secalinus L. # BROSE) is more common in the eastern portion of the hard red winter wheat producing regions and in the more humid soft red winter wheat region. Behrendt and Hanf (12) state that cheat has been more common on acid sandy or loamy soils while downy brome commonly occurs on dry, mostly alkaline, sandy to loamy soils. Since soils are frequently alkaline in the relatively dry climate of the western regions (61), it is not clear exactly what role pH plays in affecting geographical distribution of the various Bromus spp. Recent serious problems with downy brome in the New England nursery industry (69) and orchards (57) indicate that downy brome could thrive under a relatively wide range of edaphic and climatic conditions. However, as a weed problem in wheat, the common prevalent conditions of low annual precipitation and alkaline soils should not go unnoticed in the development of chemical weed control practices.

Diclofop at 840 g ai/ha, fenoxaprop at 90 g ai/ha, and imazamethabenz at 530 g ai/ha fall-applied controlled wild oat 96, 99, and 95% and increased wheat grain yields 26, 29, and 24%, respectively. These herbicides controlled wild oat over a wider range of growth stages than current labels indicate. The same treatments applied in March were less effective for wild oat control and did not increase wheat yield.

A survey conducted to determine the distribution of red horned poppy in western Oklahoma identified infestations in 14 Oklahoma and 3 Texas counties. Soil pH from infested fields ranged from 7.0 to 8.5. Red horned poppy grew as an annual, germinating in fall, spring, or summer. Plants that emerged in the fall survived −25 C, flowered in April and produced mature seed in June. Plants that emerged in April, flowered in June and produced mature seed in July. Corolla color varied from red to yellow with time of anthesis.

Field experiments were conducted to determine the influence of winter wheat seeding date and forage removal on the efficacy of cheat control herbicides, forage and grain yields, and net returns to land, overhead, risk, and management for the various cheat control strategies. Economic analysis showed that net returns were higher when wheat was seeded during the traditional seeding period (October) than when either seeded early (September) for increased forage production or delayed (November) for cultural cheat control. Some herbicides were economically beneficial at two of three locations where the initial cheat population exceeded 170 plants/m2.

Selected herbicide treatments from 25 winter annual broadleaf weed control experiments conducted across Oklahoma from 1979 to 1993 were examined for winter wheat yield response to weed control. All experiments contained one or two of the same three weeds (henbit, bushy wallflower, or cutleaf eveningprimrose) as the primary target(s). Herbicide treatments included chlorsulfuron at 8.8 or 17.6 g ai/ha, and/or 2,4-D at 420 g ae/ha, all broadcast POST to wheat. Most herbicide treatments controlled the weeds, but increased wheat grain yield at only one site, wherein bushy wallflower density was 830/m2. Correlation analysis found no relationship between weed densities and wheat yield when chlorsulfuron at 8.8 g/ha was applied for henbit or moderate levels of bushy wallflower or cutleaf eveningprimrose. There was a significant positive relationship favoring spraying of bushy wallflower when the correlation analysis included data from one site with a density of 830 plants/m2.

In field experiments, chlorsulfuron and CGA 131036 did not injure winter wheat. Both herbicides applied postemergence at 9 and 10 g ai/ha completely controlled flixweed. CGA 131036 controlled cutleaf eveningprimrose 81%, and chlorsulfuron controlled 91%. At similar rates, CGA 131036 was also less effective than chlorsulfuron on henbit and Italian ryegrass. Both controlled wild buckwheat 77% when applied postemergence at 18 g/ha. Neither of the sulfonylurea herbicides controlled prostrate spurge or woolly croton as effectively as 2,4-D. In a bean root bioassay, root growth inhibition by both herbicides was partially alleviated by adding isoleucine and valine.

Buthidazole {3-[5-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-yl}-4-hydroxyl-1-methyl-2-imidazolidinone} was incubated for 30 days and then leached through Norfolk loamy sand, Lakeland loamy sand, Davidson clay, and Alamance silt loam soils. Similar amounts of the herbicide leached through all of the soils, but distribution in the soils varied greatly. 14C-buthidazole distribution in the Lakeland and Norfolk sandy soils was relatively uniform throughout the soil columns. In the Alamance silt loam and Davidson clay, much greater amounts of buthidazole were found in the upper soil zones than in the lower zones. Six metabolites of buthidazole (dihydroxy, desmethyl dihydroxy, dehydrate, methylurea, urea, and amine) were distributed in varying amounts in each of the soils.

Data from three field experiments were used to determine the effects of grazing cheat-infested winter wheat during tillering on cheat and wheat growth, mature biomass, and wheat grain yield components. When terminated, grazing had reduced wheat leaf area 52% and cheat leaf area by 28%. Pooled over experiments, grazing decreased mature wheat height 7 cm and wheat yield 17%. Grazing increased dockage due primarily to cheat 9%. Grazing effects on wheat yield components, biomass, and cheat panicle density varied. Grazing did not affect cheat tillering or wheat harvest index.

The sensitivities of chlorophyll fluorescence and fresh weight as bioassay techniques for the determination of metribuzin [4-amino-6-tert-butyl-3-(methylthio)-as-triazin-5 (4H)-one], diuron [3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea], and atrazine [2-chloro-4-(ethylamino)-6-(isopropylamino)-s-triazine] concentrations in soil were compared. The ratio of the initial inflection point (I) to the variable fluorescence maximum (P) of intact oat (Avena sativa L. ‘Chilocco’) leaves was determined for plants seeded directly into herbicide-treated soil and for those transplanted into treated soil after 14 days of growth in nutrient solution. Using the chlorophyll fluorescence of transplanted oats bioassay, 0-, 0.13-, 0.25-, and 0.50-ppm concentrations could be distinguished from one another within 8 h for metribuzin, within 24 h for diuron, and within 48 h for atrazine. These distinctions between rates could not be made 17 days after seeding into treated soil when using fresh weight as the bioassay indicator. Chlorophyll fluorescence of oats seeded directly into treated soil was also a reliable technique, but required much more time to attain sufficient plant size for convenient chlorophyll fluorescence determinations.

Intact wheat plants and wheat calli responded similarly to varying concentrations of imazapyr. Fifty percent growth inhibition of wheat callus occurred with 0.05 μM imazapyr after 70 d. As imazapyr concentration increased from 0 to 10 μM, the free isoleucine, leucine, and valine decreased from 160 to 35, 260 to 49, and 310 to 59 pmol mg−1, respectively. Resistant calli, which had relative growth rates exceeding a calculated upper prediction interval, were obtained by in vitro selection at 2 and 5 μM imazapyr. Resistant calli growing on 2 μM imazapyr had free isoleucine, leucine, and valine concentrations intermediate to the control and susceptible callus.

In field experiments, wheat row spacing, seeding rate, and herbicide treatment affected cheat seed content of harvested wheat, wheat yield, and net returns. No individual practice or combination of practices consistently increased net returns from cheat-infested wheat. Net returns frequently were increased and never decreased by applying metribuzin at 420 g ha−1 or chlorsulfuron + metsulfuron at 21.9 + 4.4 g ha−1 or by increasing the seeding rate compared to baseline inputs. The data indicate that herbicide rates should not be reduced when row spacing is decreased and/or seeding rates increased.