Field trials indicated that addition of ammonium sulfate to imazethapyr plus nonionic surfactant increased quackgrass control, especially at low imazethapyr rates. In greenhouse experiments, approximately twice as much imazethapyr was absorbed by quackgrass leaves when the herbicide was applied in combination with nonionic surfactant plus ammonium sulfate than when the herbicide was applied with nonionic surfactant alone. Black Mexican Sweet maize (BMS) suspension-cultured cells were used to evaluate the effects of ammonium sulfate and nonionic surfactant on cellular absorption of imazethapyr in the absence of a cuticular barrier. Imazethapyr absorption by BMS cells was diffusion-mediated, energy-dependent, and exhibited a pH optimum of approximately 3. Over the concentration range of 0.1 to 10.0 μM, the equilibrium concentration of imazethapyr in BMS cells was a linear function of the external concentration. Addition of ammonium sulfate to the external medium of BMS cells enhanced both the rate of imazethapyr uptake and medium acidification. There was a linear correlation between the ability of ammonium sulfate (0.5 to 10 mM) to promote medium acidification and imazethapyr uptake by BMS cells. The ammonium sulfate-induced stimulation of imazethapyr absorption in BMS cells was sensitive to plasma membrane adenosine triphosphatase inhibitors (sodium vanadate, diethylstilbestrol), the uncoupler carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone, and energy metabolism inhibitors (sodium azide, nitrogen gas), demonstrating that this effect was dependent on ATP production and the functioning of the plasma membrane ATPase. It is hypothesized that cytoplasmic acidification in BMS cells due to ammonium assimilation stimulates the plasma membrane ATPase to pump protons across the plasma membrane which in turn acidifies the cell wall promoting cellular accumulation of imazethapyr by ion-trapping. Cell wall acidification due to ammonium assimilation may contribute to the ability of ammonium sulfate to enhance the efficacy of imazethapyr and other foliar-applied herbicides.

Field experiments were conducted to determine whether aerial and subterranean stem sections taken from Canada thistle [Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop. # CIRAR] plants in four stages of development (spring-vegetative, bud, postbloom, and fall-vegetative) could survive and produce infestations the following year. Partially buried aerial stem sections from all stages of development had greater survival 28 days after planting than completely buried aerial stem sections. Few completely buried aerial stem sections survived. Partially or completely buried subterranean stem sections from Canada thistle at the postbloom stage had the highest survival rate. Few partially or completely buried subterranean stem sections from the other three growth stages survived. Surviving stem sections from spring-vegetative, bud, and postbloom stages of Canada thistle produced adventitious roots that overwintered and produced new infestations the following spring. Surviving stem sections from Canada thistle at the fall-vegetative stage did not develop an adequate root system for winter survival.

The influence of fall (late September or late October)-applied dicamba (3,6-dichloro-2-methoxybenzoic acid) on spring-planted soybean [Glycine max(L.) Merr.] and sunflower (Helianthus annuusL.) was studied at five sites in Minnesota during 1983 and 1984. At the two southern Minnesota locations, only late-October applications of dicamba at the highest rate (4.5 kg ae/ha) reduced yields of spring-planted soybean and sunflower. At the central and the two northern Minnesota locations, both late-September and late-October applications of dicamba at 1.1 kg/ha and higher caused injury and yield reductions to soybean and sunflower planted the following year. The two southern Minnesota locations had generally higher levels of precipitation, higher temperatures, higher organic matter soils, and lower pH levels compared to the central and northern Minnesota locations. These climatic and soil characteristics reduced dicamba persistence at the two southern Minnesota locations.