Preemergence herbicides are generally considered as a group to negatively affect hybrid bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. × C. transvaalensis Burtt-Davy) establishment. However, little is known about the effects upon hybrid bermudagrass root growth, establishment, and sod harvestability. Several research projects were conducted at Mississippi State University to determine the effects of commonly used preemergence herbicides on hybrid bermudagrass sod production. Measured response variables included visually estimated hybrid bermudagrass cover, normalized difference vegetative index (NDVI), ratio vegetative index (RVI), relative chlorophyll concentration (CI-RE), sod tensile strength, root mass, root length, root surface area, average root diameter, and root carbohydrate concentration after application of these herbicides. While several of these preemergence herbicides initially reduced hybrid bermudagrass growth, hybrid bermudagrass was generally able to recover and outgrow the herbicidal effects by the end of the growing season.

St. Augustinegrass [Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walt.) Kuntze] is a widely used lawn grass in the southeastern United States. St. Augustinegrass is typically vegetatively established from plugs or sod. Establishment of St. Augustinegrass sod can be slowed due to weed competition. Weed-infested sod may not be harvestable and is less desirable by end users. Preemergence herbicides are used to prevent weed infestation; however, preemergence herbicides often negatively affect sod grow-in. Current research evaluated the effects of contemporary preemergence herbicides on St. Augustinegrass grow-in from plugs. Grow-in was evaluated using visual estimates of percentage St. Augustinegrass cover, as well as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Ratio Vegetation Index (RVI), and Chlorophyll Index-Red Edge (CI-RE) collected by handheld and aerial multispectral sensors. A sharable workflow was created in ArcGIS Pro to extract vegetation indices from aerial imagery. Trends of increased time to grow-in due to herbicide treatment were detected by visual and multispectral assessments.

Isoxaben is a preemergence (PRE) broadleaf herbicide used in turf and ornamentals. Field, greenhouse, and laboratory research evaluated this herbicide for PRE control of selected broadleaves in turf, suspected postemergence (POST) herbicidal effects, and the influence of application timings and rates on soil residual. During seed germination in moist filter paper, isoxaben concentrations required for 50% inhibition of radicle growth (GR50) were 0.013, 0.010, 0.008, 0.008, and 0.007 ppm for dandelion, buckhorn plantain, white clover, black medic, and common lespedeza, respectively. In greenhouse experiments, isoxaben applied POST at 2.24 kg ai/ha suppressed the growth of Florida betony, black medic and white clover by 45, 65, and 66%, respectively, and reduced regrowth of Florida betony by 71%. In soil bioassays, yellow rocket control from isoxaben applied in fall was approximately 20 and 30% greater than spring-applied isoxaben at 3 and 6 MAT, respectively. Buckhorn plantain control from fall treatments at 3 MAT was approximately 15% higher than spring-applied isoxaben at 3 MAT. Application timings did not influence control of spotted spurge, a less sensitive weed. Isoxaben applied to turf in spring at 1.12 kg/ha provided > 90% control of buckhorn plantain, dandelion, and corn speedwell at 4 MAT. Fall applied isoxaben at the same rate provided total control of common chickweed, corn speedwell and henbit at 3 MAT and 80 to 90% control of white sweet clover and buckhorn plantain that germinated the following spring. Double (spring followed by fall) application of isoxaben to turf appeared to enhance broadleaf weed control in some instances. Dissipation of isoxaben in the top 3.8 cm of a Ross silt-loam soil as affected by spring, fall, and spring followed by fall applications was determined using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. Isoxaben residues in soil decreased by 55 and 92% by 3 and 6 MAT, respectively, for spring teatments, and decreased 29 and 52% by 3 and 6 MAT for fall treatments, respectively. A soil-bioassay study correlated well with chemical analysis of isoxaben residues, as the correlation coefficients were 0.85 and 0.89 for yellow rocket and buckhorn plantain, respectively. / Ph. D.

Master of Science / Department of Agronomy / Phillip W. Stahlman / Kochia [Kochia scoparia (L.) Schrad.] is an invasive weed that is common in cropland, pastures and rangeland, rights-of-way, and disturbed areas throughout the western and northern United States and southern Canada. This species aggressively competes with crops, especially in no-till cropping systems, and has evolved resistance to multiple herbicide modes of action. Thus, it has become highly problematic and is difficult to manage. Roundup Ready 2 Xtend™ (Monsanto Co.) soybeans with resistance to dicamba herbicide are expected to be commercialized in 2016, and will offer a new management practice for controlling kochia and other susceptible broadleaf weeds in soybeans. Objectives of this research were to (1) determine whether greenhouse-grown plants from various kochia populations from the central Great Plains differ in susceptibility to postemergence-applied dicamba; (2) compare preemergence versus postemergence control of kochia with dicamba in a greenhouse environment; and (3) investigate various management practices in a systems approach to control kochia in soybeans. GR[subscript]50 values (dose required to reduce plant biomass by 50%) indicated at least an 8-fold difference among 11 kochia populations in susceptibility to postemergence-applied dicamba. Additionally, dicamba at 210 g ha[superscript]-1 applied preemergence caused 95, 88 and 84% mortality and reduced plant biomass (fresh wt.) of the most susceptible and two least susceptible kochia populations from a previous dicamba dose-response study by 99, 68 and 60%, respectively. In comparison, <10% of kochia plants from those populations died and biomass was reduced only 39, 15 and 7%, respectively, when dicamba was applied postemergence. Field experiments demonstrated that preplant conventional tillage followed by nine different in-crop herbicide treatments, and shallow early-spring tillage followed by preplant herbicides (reduced-till) along with the same in-crop herbicides provided greater kochia control than three no-till systems involving early preplant herbicide treatments followed by the same in-crop herbicides. However, despite greater kochia control with the tillage-based systems in 2013, soybean yields were less compared to the three no-till systems. Consequently, in some years the most effective kochia control practices may not result in the highest soybean yields.

Acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibiting herbicides are commonly used to eliminate weeds from mature turfgrasses. Field trials were conducted from 2004-2006, testing ALS herbicides for preemergence and early postemergence activity on newly seeded turfgrasses, using four species: Riviera bermuda, Zenith and Companion zoysia, L- 93 creeping bentgrass, and Poa annua L. Data collected were phytotoxicity and percent turf cover. Bermuda and zoysia herbicides were metsulfuron-methyl (42 g ha-1), trifloxysulfuron (29 g ha-1), flazasulfuron (53 g ha-1), foramsulfuron (30 g ha-1), bispyribac-sodium (112 g ha-1), and rimsulfuron (35 g ha-1). Treatments occurred the day of seeding and two-three weeks after seeding. Flazasulfuron, trifloxysulfuron and bispyribac-sodium caused significant damage in all treatments. Data suggests that bermuda and zoysia are tolerant of seedling treatments of foramsulfuron, rimsulfuron, and metsulfuron-methyl at these rates. Bentgrass and P. annua herbicides were foramsulfuron (15 and 30 g ha-1), siduron (2803 g ha-1), bispyribac-sodium (49 g ha-1), and paclobutrazol (281 g ha-1). Treatments occurred the day of seeding, two and four weeks after seeding. Foramsulfuron at 15 and 30 g ha-1 caused significant damage regardless of when it was applied. Data suggests that bentgrass and P. annua are tolerant of seedling treatments of siduron, paclobutrazol, and bispyribac-sodium at these rates.

Master of Science / Department of Agronomy / Antonio R. Asebedo / Johanna A. Dille / Field experiments were conducted in 2016 and 2017 across nine locations in Kansas to develop and evaluate a procedure for variable-rate applications (VRA) of soil-applied herbicides in corn and grain sorghum based on soil properties. Soil electrical conductivity (EC) and soil organic matter (SOM) data were collected at each location using a Veris MSP3. Soil EC was correlated to soil texture and herbicide algorithms were developed for two different tank-mixes for corn and for grain sorghum. Three algorithms were evaluated in the field for each tank-mix based only on SOM (alg-SOM), SOM and soil texture (alg-SOMtex), or a flat rate based on the average soil properties for the entire field. Rates for each tank-mix were based on the maximum usage rate (MUR) allowed. When soil variability across a field was adequate, VRA based on algorithms were effective at five of the nine locations. Across these five locations, alg-SOM resulted in the same or better weed control at 8 weeks after treatment (WAT) compared to the flat rate and reduced herbicide use by 12% for both tank-mixes in grain sorghum. Using alg-SOMtex reduced herbicide use by 24% in grain sorghum, but had less weed control at several locations compared to the flat rate. VRA was practical at Morganville, KS in 2017. Both alg-SOM and alg-SOMtex increased the amount of herbicide applied compared to the flat rate, but alg-SOMtex resulted in greater Palmer amaranth control (92%) compared to the flat rate (71%). Separate greenhouse and field experiments were conducted in 2017 to evaluate the activity of soil-applied herbicides on controlling HPPD-inhibitor resistant Palmer amaranth populations. A dose-response greenhouse experiment of soil-applied mesotrione and isoxaflutole was performed using resistant (Stafford County) and susceptible (Riley County) Palmer amaranth populations. Reduced susceptibility was observed with resistant-to-susceptible ratios being 7.2 for mesotrione and 4.1 for isoxaflutole. Field experiments were conducted at two locations in KS with one field having HPPD-resistant (Barton County) and the other HPPD-susceptible (Reno County) Palmer amaranth populations. Treatments were three HPPD-inhibiting herbicides [mesotrione (¼X, ½X, and 1X = 210 g ha-1), isoxaflutole (½X and 1X = 105 g ha-1), and bicyclopyrone (1X = 50 g ha-1 and 2X in formulated tank-mix with bromoxynil at 700 and 1400 g ha-1)] in comparison to other soil-applied herbicides commonly used for Palmer amaranth control. HPPD-inhibitor treatments were applied alone and tank-mixed with atrazine (2240 g ha-1). Overall, control of Palmer amaranth was reduced for HPPD-resistant compared to -susceptible populations. All treatments of mesotrione and isoxaflutole at 4 WAT resulted in 81 to 99% control in Reno County, but only 55 to 89% control in Barton County. For mesotrione and isoxaflutole treatments across both sites, Palmer amaranth control at 4 WAT was greater when 1X was applied (89%) compared to 0.5X (81%). Tank-mixing atrazine with mesotrione and isoxaflutole increased Palmer amaranth control from 82 to 88%. Soil-applied HPPD-inhibitors were most effective when applied at field usage rate in combination with atrazine for both populations. When using soil-applied HPPD-inhibitors, management recommendations should be the same regardless of Palmer amaranth population.

Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) is a competitive weed in small grain production areas throughout the northwestern and southeastern US. In small grains, Italian ryegrass has generally been controlled with postemergence treatments of diclofop, or diclofop-methyl, a member of the subfamily of the aromatic carboxylic acid family, the aryloxyphenoxypropionates. The first incidence of diclofop resistance in Italian ryegrass was reported in Virginia in 1995. Experiments to characterize diclofop resistance in several Virginia biotypes of Italian ryegrass included the following objectives: (1) evaluation of the presence of diclofop resistance in several Italian ryegrass biotypes collected across Virginia, (2) evaluation of alternative herbicide efficacy for diclofop resistant Italian ryegrass control, and (3) characterization of the aryloxyphenoxypropionate (APP) resistance mechanism in resistant Italian ryegrass biotypes. The response of 32 biotypes to diclofop collected from various locations statewide with varying histories of diclofop applications confirmed diclofop resistance in Virginian Italian ryegrass populations. At 4-times the label-recommended application rate, only 50% of biotypes previously exposed to diclofop in a cropping situation were adequately controlled versus 94% of the biotypes not previously treated with diclofop. Tralkoxydim provided the most effective control of four of the biotypes. No postemergence treatment effectively controlled one biotype previously exposed to diclofop applications. Effective preemergence herbicide treatments for Italian ryegrass control in the greenhouse included acetochlor (two formulations) and flufenacet plus metribuzin. In the field, flufenacet plus metribuzin resulted in excellent Italian ryegrass control, little crop injury, and acceptable barley yields. Acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase (ACCase) assays and herbicide absorption, translocation, and metabolism studies were conducted to investigate resistant mechanism(s) to two APP herbicides, diclofop and quizalofop. ACCase assays indicated no differences in enzyme activity between the two biotypes of Italian ryegrass evaluated. Furthermore, no significant differences in the specific activity of ACCase were detected between the two biotypes in the absence of diclofop. [14C]Quizalofop-P absorption, translocation, and metabolism did not differ between resistant and susceptible Italian ryegrass biotypes. Lack of a significant biotype effect suggests that differential metabolism does not explain the differential response to diclofop treatments observed in the herbicide dose-plant response experiment. / Ph. D.

Many animals live in societies of varying degrees of organization. Some individuals in these societies seem to sacrifice their own fitness to increase the fitness of some others. Understanding the forces that mould the evolution of such altruistic behaviour has become a dominant theme in modern evolutionary biology. Primitively eusocial polistine wasps provide excellent model systems to study the evolution of altruism as they show high degrees of plasticity in their behaviour. Different individuals in the same population pursue different social strategies such as nesting alpne or nesting in groups. When wasps nest in groups, usually only one individual becomes the egg layer, while die rest assume the role of sterile workers. Why do the workers not become solitary foundresses and rear their own offspring instead of working to rear the brood of another individual? Here I have used the tropical primitively eusocial wasp Ropalidia marginata to explore some factors that might potentially favour the worker strategy over the solitary founding strategy. Workers in multiple foundress nests may benefit by rearing brood more closely related to them than their own offspring would be. However, from previous work on this species it is known that relatedness between sisters is rather low and that workers therefore rear quite distantly related brood. Therefore, I have concentrated on factors other than genetic relatedness that might potentially favour the worker strategy. A total of 145 naturally initiated nests with different numbers of foundresses was monitored over a period of 16 months, and their productivities were compared. Although the total colony productivity increased, the per capita productivity did not increase with increasing foundress numbers. Colonies with larger foundress numbers did not produce significantly heavier progeny and did not produce them significantly faster than colonies with fewer individuals. The conspecific usurpers preferred to usurp single foundress colonies more often than multiple foundress colonies. Therefore, protection from conspecific usurpers might be an advantage of multiple foundress associations. About 10% of the multiple foundress nests experienced queen turnovers. This provides a finite chance to reproduce and gain some individual fitness for workers, at some future point of time. Wasps may not be similar in their reproductive abilities and those who are less fertile might be joining others who are more fertile. Testing such a hypothesis would require that individuals who have chosen to be subordinate cofoundresses in multiple foundress associations are forced to nest alone. During this study a total of 77 nests was monitored. Cofoundresses forced to nest alone had significantly lower productivity than natural solitary foundresses and also queens of multiple foundress nests who were forced to nest alone. This suggested that wasps are not similar either in their reproductive ability or brood rearing ability or both. To ascertain which of the factors was responsible for lower productivity in cofoundresses, productivity of wasps isolated into laboratory cages was compared. There was no significant difference in the productivity of isolated cofoundresses and isolated queens. This suggests that wasps are not subfertile per se but probably differ in their foraging and brood rearing abilities. The certainty with which resources are brought into the nest and therefore, the certainty with which the mean per capita productivity is attained, provides an automatic benefit of group living according to the central limit theorem. This prediction was also tested. The coefficient of variation of mean per capita productivity decreased significantly with increasing foundress numbers. Behavioural observations on another 36 colonies, with different number of adults, showed that the coefficient of variation of food brought to the nest and the rate at which larvae were fed, decreased significantly with increasing number of adults. A computer simulation was used to find out the effect of group size on the variance in feed larva. Assuming that larvae cannot be starved for too long and cannot utilize more than a certain amount of food at a time, the fitness of larvae was found to increase with an increase in the number of adults attending the nest. Previous work on R. marginata has been largely confined to postemergence colonies. An attempt was made to look at and compare social organization in preemergence colonies with that of postemergence colonies. It was found that the egg layer was not the most dominant animal in the well-established preemergence colonies. There were no detectable differences in the social organization of the preemergence colonies (of this study) with that of postemergence colonies of the earlier studies. Perhaps my conclusions drawn from studying preemergence colonies are therefore applicable more widely to the species. It can be concluded that the apparent increased fitness of the worker strategy over solitary foundress strategy does not come from any increase in per capita productivity, but comes instead from (i) the greater predictability with which the mean per capita productivity is attained in larger colonies, (ii) the lower probabilities of usurpation of larger colonies, (iii) queen turnovers that provide opportunities for workers in multiple foundress colonies to gain some direct individual fitness and (iv) the lower brood rearing abilities of workers in multiple foundress nests that make the worker strategy the best of a bad job.

<p>Acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitors are a widely used class of selective herbicides used to control grass and broadleaf weeds. The repeated use of ALS-inhibiting herbicides has selected for biotypes of weeds resistant to ALS inhibitors, especially in the weeds most problematic to growers in the Midwest. While ALS inhibitor use seems futile, new mechanisms of herbicide action are not predicted to be commercialized in the near future to solve this problem. This leads to the main objective of this research, determining what value ALS inhibitors provide in controlling populations of weeds with resistance to ALS inhibitors. </p> <p>Field experiments with soil-applied (PRE) applications of ALS inhibitors on horseweed (<i>Erigeron canadensis</i>) and tall waterhemp (<i>Amaranthus tuberculatus </i>var. <i>rudis</i>) exhibited higher efficacy than would be expected given the frequency of the ALS resistance trait in the population. Whereas control of these species with POST-applied applications was similar or less than the proportion of the population characterized as susceptible using molecular techniques. Soil-applied applications, therefore, resulted in relatively greater control than POST applications in populations with known ALS-inhibitor-resistance mechanisms.</p> <p>Greenhouse experiments showed that overall resistance ratios were higher for PRE applications of ALS inhibitors in horseweed, tall waterhemp, and Palmer amaranth (<i>Amaranthus palmeri</i>). However, GR₅₀ values decreased for both susceptible and resistant biotypes for the PRE applications compared to POST, suggesting the biologically effective dose of these herbicides is lower in soil residual applications. This research found that PRE applications of ALS inhibitors resulted in some level of control on horseweed and tall waterhemp classified as resistant to ALS inhibitors due to the higher efficacy of PRE herbicide applications.</p> <p>Genetic analysis assessing the amino acid substitutions that confer resistance to ALS inhibitors in tall waterhemp confirmed a difference in selection pressure between PRE and POST applications and between ALS active ingredients in tall waterhemp. Applications of chlorimuron PRE at 11 g ai ha^-1selected for 35% homozygous W574L genotypes and at 44 g ha^-1 selected for 70% homozygous W574L genotypes. An increase of homozygous W574L individuals along with a decrease in heterozygous individuals from 65 (11 g ha^-1) to 29% (44 g ha^-1) suggests that W574L is semi-dominant in tall waterhemp and that high labeled rates of chlorimuron applied PRE can partially overcome the heterozygous W574L-resistance mechanism. In horseweed, no difference in selection pressure was observed between application timing or between chlorimuron or cloransulam. A new mutation conferring ALS-inhibitor resistance in horseweed was discovered, a Pro197Leu amino acid substitution, with resistance ratios of 21X to chlorimuron and 8.6X to cloransulam. These resistance ratios are slightly less than those reported for the Pro197Ala and Pro197Ser amino acid substitutions in conferring ALS-inhibitor resistance in horseweed. </p> <p>Finally, a survey of 42 populations of tall waterhemp in Indiana counties with confirmed ALS-inhibitor resistant populations of tall waterhemp found that all populations contained at least 16% individuals with the W574L amino acid substitution, 35 populations contained at least 1% individuals with the S653N substitution, and 9 populations contained at least 1% individuals with the S653T substitution. Taking into consideration the three mutations tested, 8 of the 42 populations tested contained <50% ALS-inhibitor resistant individuals within the population. Using the same tall waterhemp populations as collected in the survey, Next-Generation Sequencing was used to determine if other amino acid substitutions conferring resistance to ALS inhibitors existed. Results from WideSeq revealed that 10 other amino acid substitutions in the ALS protein may be conferring resistance in tall waterhemp in Indiana: A122T, A122N, A122S, P197T, P197L, P197H, D376E, and G654F. Further research from this survey also suggests that metabolic resistance to ALS inhibitors is likely a contributor to resistance in tall waterhemp in Indiana.</p> <p>This research suggests that ALS-inhibiting herbicides, more specifically chlorimuron, would provide the greatest contribution to management of tall waterhemp. Chlorimuron would perform best when used in soil residual applications and in populations of tall waterhemp containing either individuals susceptible to chlorimuron or individuals heterozygous for ALS inhibitor resistance conferred by the W574L mutation. This research also demonstrates the specificity of the amino acid substitutions in the ALS protein and by weed species to realize the benefit of these herbicides for management of weeds resistant to ALS inhibitors. Molecular characterization of target site resistance to ALS inhibitors has traditionally been considered relatively simple. However, we found 11 new amino acid substitutions that confer resistance to ALS inhibitors in horseweed and tall waterhemp. The complexity of ALS inhibitor resistance calls for the use of methods such as NGS to detect all potential resistance mutations in a timely manner and for the use of tests detecting metabolic resistance. Overall, this research demonstrates that ALS inhibitors still provide some utility for management of weed populations classified as resistant to ALS inhibitors and that the resistance mechanisms in horseweed and tall waterhemp are more numerous than previously reported. </p>