Field experiments were conducted for 2 years at Urbana, Illinois, to evaluate the response of soybeans (Glycine max (L.) Merr., var. Harosoy 63) to soil and foliar applications of 3,6-dichloro-o-anisic acid (dicamba), 4-amino-3,5,6-trichloropicolinic acid (picloram), and (2,4-dichlorophenoxy)acetic acid (2,4-D). Soil incorporated applications of 2,4-D or dicamba at rates up to 8 oz/A or 4 oz/A, respectively, just before planting soybeans did not reduce soybean yields significantly. Picloram, applied under the same conditions, reduced soybean yield almost 40% at ½ oz/A. Picloram at rates from ½ to 2 oz/A caused slight to moderate leaf malformation on soybeans planted the following year but did not reduce yield. Foliar applications of 2,4-D up to 2 oz/A on soybeans had little effect on yield when applied at the prebloom stage and only slightly reduced yield when applied during flowering. Dicamba and picloram injured soybeans at the prebloom stage considerably more than did 2,4-D. Dicamba and picloram severely restricted soybean development, and reduced yield markedly when applied during flowering; ½ oz/A of dicamba or ⅛ oz/A of picloram reduced soybean yield about 50%.

A common waterhemp biotype that was not controlled by triazine or acetolactate synthase (ALS)-inhibiting herbicides was isolated from a field in Bond County, IL, in the fall of 1996. Greenhouse and laboratory experiments determined resistance to atrazine and three ALS-inhibiting herbicides in this biotype. Based on whole-plant response, the Bond County common waterhemp biotype required over 1,000 times more imazethapyr relative to a susceptible biotype to reduce growth 50%. Cross-resistance to thifensulfuron, a sulfonylurea, and flumetsulam, a triazolopyrimidine sulfonanilide, was also detected. Based on in vivo enzyme assays, ALS in the Bond County common waterhemp biotype was 20-, > 8-, and 68-fold less sensitive than ALS in the susceptible biotype to imazethapyr, thifensulfuron, and flumetsulam, respectively. Whole-plant efficacy trials also indicated that the Bond County common waterhemp biotype required more than 20 kg ha−1of atrazine to inhibit growth 50%. Chlorophyll fluorescence assays revealed that 100 nM atrazine inhibited photosynthesis in the susceptible biotype, whereas 10 M did not affect photosynthesis in the resistant biotype. Regions of the genes encoding ALS and D1 proteins were sequenced to determine the molecular basis for the resistances. Triazine resistance was conferred by a glycine for serine substitution at residue 264 of the D1 protein, while ALS resistance was conferred by a leucine for tryptophan substitution at residue 569 of ALS.

Two studies investigated off-target exposure of soybean to plant growth regulator (PGR) herbicides and determined if simultaneous exposure to PGR herbicides and labeled soybean herbicides increase PGR injury. The PGR herbicides, 2,4-D, clopyralid, and dicamba, as well as dicamba plus the auxin transport inhibitor diflufenzopyr, were applied to glyphosate-resistant soybean at the V3, V7, and R2 soybean growth stages. Two rates were chosen from previous and preliminary research to approximate threshold rates that would cause a yield reduction so as to distinguish differences in sensitivity between growth stages. All four PGR herbicides caused significant soybean injury, height reduction, and yield loss at one or more application rates and growth stages. Relative to other PGR herbicides, dicamba reduced soybean yield at the lowest rate (a potential rate from residues remaining in improperly cleaned application equipment), followed by clopyralid, with 2,4-D requiring the highest rate to reduce soybean yield (a potential rate from a high level of spray drift). Dicamba and dicamba plus diflufenzopyr were applied at equal fractions of labeled use rates for corn to compare them directly at equivalent levels of off-target movement. Dicamba plus diflufenzopyr caused less injury and yield loss than dicamba applied alone. In a second study, the highest labeled soybean use rates of glyphosate, imazethapyr, imazamox, and fomesafen were applied alone and in combination with the highest rate of dicamba used in the first study (1% of a labeled use rate for corn) at the V3 and V7 stages. Dicamba demonstrated synergistic interactions with imazamox, imazethapyr, and fomesafen (but not with glyphosate) to further reduce yield under some circumstances, especially when applied at the V7 stage. Several treatments that included dicamba reduced soybean seed weight when applied at either the V3 or V7 stage and reduced the number of seeds per pod at the V7 stage.

Seeds of yellow foxtail [Setaria lutescens(Weigel) Hubb.], ivyleaf morningglory [Ipomoea hederacea(L.) Jacq.], common cocklebur (Xanthium pensylvanicumWallr.), jimsonweed (Datura stramoniumL.), velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrastiMedic.), and giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifidaL.) were buried in the soil November 20 and 21, 1966 at Urbana, Illinois for noting emergence of seedlings from April 1 through August 18, 1967. Similarly, seeds of yellow foxtail, ivyleaf morningglory, jimsonweed, velvetleaf, giant ragweed, common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifoliaL.), and Pennsylvania smartweed (Polygonum pensylvanicumL.) were buried on October 25, 1968 for emergence observations from April 1 to August 18, 1969. Pennsylvania smartweed, giant ragweed, and common ragweed had large flushes of germination from early April through early May, with no emergence after June 1. Velvetleaf displayed similar early flushes and had additional small flushes of emergence in late May or June. Yellow foxtail seedlings also emerged in April and May in 1969 and in May and June during both years. Common cocklebur seedlings emerged abundantly in April and May but less abundantly in June. Ivyleaf morningglory and jimsonweed displayed flushes of emergence sporadically after May 1. Flushes of emergence for all species which occurred after May 1 were preceded by sufficient rainfall to bring the surface 10 cm of soil to field capacity. Cumulative heat units in the soil above 10 C were not correlated with initiation of emergence for any species. The early emergence was attributed to stimuli from general soil warming while emergence after May 1 was stimulated by favorable soil moisture from rainfall.