ALBERT

Notes: A total of 74 independently run bioassays with soil incorporated metsulfuron-methyl from 12 different laboratories was analysed by a logistic dose-response curve to assess the precision of regression parameters and relate ED50 to soil properties. The potency in terms of ED50 of metsulfuron-methyl in Brassica rapa L., which was used by all laboratories, varied between 0.05 and 3.9 g a.i. ha-1. ED50 was negatively correlated with pH and positively correlated with organic matter. The majority of laboratories had ED50 within the interval 0.1-1.0 g a.i. ha-1. At one laboratory using three test species, the most sensitive species was Beta vulgaris L. followed by Brassica rapa L. and Lepidium sativum L. The coefficients of variation were smallest for the ED50 and ED90 response levels and largest for the ED10. The slope of the response curves had considerably lower coefficients of variation than the EDs. The results are discussed in relation to a previous collaborative bioassay study. Finally it is suggested that standardization of bioassays with herbicides could be achieved in the same way as standardization of chemical analyses.

Notes: Variable fluorescence and carbon dioxide exchange rate (CER) were measured in intact leaves of glyphosate-treated sugarbeet plants, to investigate rapid effects on photosynthesis. In one experiment, a significant effect on variable fluorescence and CER was found within 8 h after herbicide application. The effect on stomatal conductance was not significant. In a second experiment, the effects of light or dark conditions during herbicide application and 24 h later were evaluated. Under light conditions glyphosate significantly reduced variable fluorescence after 4 h. However under initial conditions of 24 h darkness, followed by alternating 8 h light/8 h dark, the effect was not significant until 44 h after treatment, by which time the plants had received several hours of light. The eflect on variable fluorescence 8 h after herbidde application correlated positively with plant survival 7 days later.

Notes: A two-species model was used to summarize results of four experiments with two component mixtures of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), peas (Pisum sativum L.), Chenopodium album L. and Sinapis alba L. grown in pots in greenhouses. The results, covering a wide range of plant densities both in mixtures and pure stands, showed that the model was not always able to describe the relationship between the yield of a species and the densities of itself and its companion species. The deviations from the model were in all instances greatest for the least competitive species. The model that quantifies competition and niche differentiation appeared to be too general because competition between species was not independent of the wide plant density ranges used here. The results are discussed in relation to possible improvements of the model and an analogy between the principles of assessing crop weed competition and the assessment of the relative potency of herbicides in bioassay studies is put forward.

Notes: The relative potencies of analytical-grade lenacil (99% ai) and its commercial formulation, Venzar® (80% ai), technical-grade ethofumesate (96%) and its commercial formulation Nortron® (21% ai) were evaluated using oats (Avena sativa L. cv. Selma) as test plant.In all experiments the dose-response curves of the pure herbicide and its commercial product were parallel. The average potency of Venzar relative to lenacil, assayed twice in a sandy loam, was 0⋅80 and thus equal to the expected 0⋅80. The average potency of Nortron relative to ethofumesate, assayed in a sandy loam and a loamy sand, was 0⋅25 and close to the expected value of 0⋅21.The implication of using the technique of parallel-line assay in herbicide studies is discussed and its potential use in other contexts than the present one is suggested.

Notes: Dose-response curves were established for the herbicides chlorsulfuron, metsulfuron-methyl, ethametsulfuron-methyl, imazamethabenz and glyphosate. The plant species were Daucus carota L. and Triticum aestivum L. in cell culture assays, and D. carota L., T. aestivum L., Stellariamedia L., Chenopodium album L. and Avena sativa L., in whole plant assays. Potency ranking of herbicides were similar in the two assays. Low doses of herbicide stimulated growth in both assays, but stimulation was greater in cell cultures. Image processing measured growth in cell cultures and was more sensitive to small differences in responses than manual counts of cell colonies. Dose-response curves had the same shape in both assays, but cell cultures were more sensitive than were whole plants. Comparaison d'essais biologiques d'herbicides effectués sur cultures de cellules et sur plantes entiéres Des courbes dose-effet ont étéétablies pour les herbicides metsulfuron-methyl, ethametsulfuron-methyl, imazamethabenz et glyphosate. Les espèces végétales étaient Daucus carota L. et Triticum aestivum L. en cultures de cellules, et D. carota L., T. aestivum L., Stellaria media L., Chenopodium album L. et Avena sativa L. dans les essais sur plantes entières. Le classement d'efficacité des herbicides était le meme dans les deux types d'essais. Les faibles doses d'herbicides stimulaient la croissance dans les deux essais mais la stimulation était plus importante en cultures de cellules. La mesure par analyse d'image de la croissance des cultures de cellules était plus sensible à de faibles différences que le comptage manuel des colonies. Les courbes dose-effet avaient la meme forme dans les deux essais mais les cultures de cellules étaient plus sensibles que les plantes entières. Vergleich von Herbizid-Biotests mit Zellkulturen und ganzen Pflanzen Fur die Herbizide Chlorsulfuron, Metsulfuronmethyl, Ethametsulfuron-methyl, Imazamethabenz und Glyphosat wurden Dosis/Wirkungs-Kurven erstellt. Die in den Zellkulturen verwendeten Pflanzenarten waren Daucus carota L. und Triticum aestivum L., und bei den Tests mit ganzen Pflanzen D. carota L., T. aestivum L., Stellaria media L., Chenopodium album L. und Avena sativa L. Die Reihenfolge der Herbizide hinsichtlich ihrer Wirksankeit war in beiden Tests ahnlich. Niedrige Herbiziddosen steigerten in beiden Tests das Wachstum, in den Zellkulturen jedoch deutlicher. Bei den Zellkulturen war die Bildanalyse-Messung fur das Erkennen geringer Unterschiede empfindlicher als das Auszahlen der Zellkolonien. Die Dosis/Wirkungs-Kurven hatten fur beide Testmethoden den gleichen Verlauf, aber auch hier erwiesen sich die Zellkulturen empfindlicher als die ganzen Pflanzen.

Notes: The distribution of 37 common weed species in eight common Danish crops in response to seven edaphic factors was evaluated using linear logistic regression with adjustment for over-dispersion. The main effects of soil properties on weed distribution were adjusted for crop type and sample year by the regression. Crop type and soil clay content were generally those explanatory variables that had the greatest influence on occurrence of the weed species, but all other factors examined (sample year, loss on ignition, pH, P, K, Mg and Mn) also had an effect on the occurrence of some weed species.

Notes: One of the most commonly used techniques to assess the efficacy of herbicides is to apply to the principle of bioassays. A bioassay is defined as an experiment for estimating the potency of a herbicide by analysis of the reaction that follows its application to living organisms. The analysis of variance is central to most applications of statistical methods in the analysis of experiments. This is true for bioassay, but perhaps the fundamental importance of regression and related concepts is here particularly apparent. The purpose of this presentation is to quantify herbicidal effects of applying non-linear regression models to herbicide bioassays, and to demonstrate how some general hypotheses about the mode of action of the assayed herbicides can be incorporated into the regression models. The validity of herbicide bioassay data is discussed in view of the general principles used in bioassay in other biological sciences.

Notes: The efficacy of some binary mixtures of MCPA, 2,4-D dichlorprop, mecoprop and dicamba was evaluated in water culture experiments. Within each of seven assays, two dose-response curves described the phytotoxicity of the herbicides administered separately and three curves described the phytotoxicity of mixtures in fixed ratios. A non-linear regression model of dry matter on the logarithm of the dose, assuming the five response curves to be mutually parallel, was fitted and a reference model, the Additive Dose Model (ADM) to assess the efficacy of the mixtures, was also incorporated into the regression. The biological interpretation of ADM is often associated with mixtures of compounds having similar mode of action. Mixtures of dicamba with dichlorprop or 2,4-D were more potent than expected under ADM in two Sinapis alba assays. In one assay with mixtures of MCPA and dichlorprop the parallel-line model fitted somewhat better than did the ADM regression. This also applied to a barley assay with mixtures of dicamba and MCPA. On the basis of the results obtained it is suggested that the analogy between the implicit assumptions of the parallel-line assay can be extended to the ADM. Parallel dose response curves are a necessary but not a sufficient condition for assuming similar mode of action Similarly, it can be argued that mixtures of compounds following ADM are a necessary but not a sufficient condition for assuming a similar mode of action for the herbicides in a mixture.

Notes: The principles of parallel-line assay were employed lo assess the influence of various additives on the herbicidal activity of alloxydim-sodium, fluazifop-butyl and sethoxydim on winter barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Igri). The dose-response curves of the herbicides were parallel, only differing in their horizontal location, i.e., the relative potencies of the herbicide preparations were independent of the dose-response level considered. Except for one herbicide-additive combination, increasing the concentration of the additives in the spray solution increased herbicide activity. The prospects of using the parallel-line assay in studies examining the effect of additives on the activity of herbicides and its application in other kinds of herbicide studies are discussed. Méthode d'estimation de l'influence d'adjuvants sur l'efficacite de certains herbicides appliqués en pulvérisation foliaireLe principe d'essai des lignes parallèles a été utilise pour estimer l'influence d'adjuvants variés sur l'activité herbicide de l'alloxydine sodium, le fluazifop-butyl et la séthoxydine en orge d'hiver (Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Igri). Les courbes de réponse à la dose entre les herbicides étaient parallèles, différant seulement dans leur localisation horizontale, par exemple les puissances relatives des préparations herbicides étaient indépendantes du niveau de la réponse à la dose pris en considération. Excepté pour un mélange herbicide-adjuvant, l'activité des herbicides a augmenté quand on a augmenté la concentration en adjuvants dans la bouillie de pulvérisation. Les possibilités d'utilisation de cette méthode des parallèles pour étudier l'effet des adjuvants sur l'activité des herbicides, et son application à d'autres secteurs d'étude des herbicides, fait l'objet d'une discussion. Eine Methode zur Beurteilung des Einflusses von Additiven auf die Wirkung von blattwirksamen HerbizidenBasierend auf den Grundlagen von ‘parallel line’-Bioassays wurde der Einfluss verschiedener Additive auf die herbizide Wirkung von Alloydim-Natrium, Fluazifop-Butyl und Sethoxydim auf Wintergerste (Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Igri) untersucht. Die Dosis/Wirkungs—Kurven waren parallel; sie unterschieden sich nur in ihrer horizontalen Lage, d.h. die relative Wirksamkeit der Herbizidformulierungen war unabhängig von einem bestimmten Dosis/Wirkungs–Niveau. Nur für eine Herbizid/Additiv—Kombination wurde eine zunchmende Aktivität der Herbizide mit steigender Additivkonzentration in der Spritzbrühe gefunden. Es werden die Möglichkeiten der Verwendung von ‘parallel line’-Bioassays zum Studium des Einflusses von Additiven auf den Effekt von Herbiziden sowie für andere Herbziduntersuchungen diskutiert.

Notes: The effects of soil temperature and soil moisture content on the rate of simazine degradation were measured in the laboratory in soils from sixteen sites located in several different countries. First-order half-lives under standard incubation conditions were significantly correlated with clay content, organic carbon content and soil pH in a multiple linear regression. The temperature dependence of degradation was similar in the different soils whereas the moisture dependence showed considerable variation between soils. Persistence of simazine was also measured in the same soils in the field and at live additional sites. Weather records from the different sites for the periods of the Held experiments were used in conjunction with constants derived from the laboratory data in a computer program to simulate persistence in the field. In general, the model overestimated residues in the field. About half of the calculated residues were within 25% of those observed, an accuracy sufficient for practical purposes, but on several occasions the discrepancies between calculated and observed residues were greater than 50%. Possible reasons for the discrepancies and requirements for further experiments are discussed.