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Comparing effects of low levels of herbicides on greehouse- and field-grown potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.), soybeans (Glycine max L.) and peas (Pisum sataivum L.)
Citation:
PFLEEGER, T. G., D. M. OLSZYK, E. LEE, AND M. PLOCHER. Comparing effects of low levels of herbicides on greehouse- and field-grown potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.), soybeans (Glycine max L.) and peas (Pisum sataivum L.). ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Pensacola, FL, 30(2):455-468, (2011).
Impact/Purpose:
While laboratory toxicology tests are generally easy to perform, cost effective and readily interpreted, they have been questioned for their environmental relevance.
Description:
While laboratory toxicology tests are generally easy to perform, cost effective and readily interpreted, they have been questioned for their environmental relevance. In contrast, field tests are considered realistic while producing results that are difficult to interpret and expensive to obtain. To investigate the realism in laboratory studies, we conducted toxicology tests using potatoes, peas and soybeans grown in a native soil in pots in the greenhouse, in pots outside under natural environmental conditions, and compared these results to our previously published work on potatoes grown in soil under field conditions. The herbicides bromoxynil, glyphosate, MCPA and sulfometuron-methyl were applied at or below (0.0, 0.001, 0.002, 0.01, 0.1 or 1.0) field application rates at potato tuber initiation or tuber bulking stage. Peas and soybeans were exposed to sulfometuron-methyl at the same rates 14 days post emergence, or at the first or second flowering stages. The effective herbicide concentrations producing a 25 % (EC25) reduction in a given measure differed between experimental conditions, but were generally within a single order of magnitude within a species even though plants grown in the greenhouse were taller and matured earlier than those grown similarly outside in pots. Plants grown outside in pots were problematic to raise because of the difficulty in maintaining proper soil moisture levels in the native soils and were subject to herbivory. This study indicated that potatoes, peas and soybeans could be successfully grown in pots in a greenhouse producing phytotoxicity results that appear similar to those grown outside in pots, reproductive endpoints in many cases are more sensitive than vegetative ones and potato and pea are reasonable candidates for asexual and sexual reproductive phytotoxicity tests, respectively.