Effect of Adjuvant on Glyphosate Effectiveness, Retention, Absorption and Translocation in <i>Lolium rigidum</i> and <i>Conyza canadensis</i>

• Main Authors: Candelario Palma-Bautista, Jose G. Vazquez-Garcia, Ilias Travlos, Alexandros Tataridas, Panagiotis Kanatas, José A. Domínguez-Valenzuela, Rafael De Prado
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-03-01
• Series: Plants
• Subjects: rigid ryegrass; horseweed; efficacy; retention; absorption and translocation
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/9/3/297

Glyphosate retention, absorption and translocation with and without adjuvant were examined in <i>Lolium rigidum</i> and <i>Conyza canadensis</i> in greenhouse and laboratory settings to develop an understanding of the influence of the selected adjuvant on glyphosate activity. Tests on whole plants show that the dose of herbicide needed to reduce dry weight by 50% (GR₅₀) or plant survival (LD₅₀) decreases by mixing glyphosate and adjuvant to 22%&#8722;24% and 42%&#8722;44% for both populations of <i>L. rigidum </i>and <i>C. canadensis</i>, respectively. This improvement in efficacy could be attributed to the higher herbicide retention and lower contact angle of the glyphosate + adjuvant drops on the leaf surface compared to the glyphosate solution alone. Plants of both species treated with ¹⁴C-glyphosate + adjuvant absorbed more glyphosate compared to non-adjuvant addition. Furthermore, the movement of the herbicide through the plant was faster and greater with the adjuvant. Our results reveal that the use of adjuvants improves the effectiveness of glyphosate in two of the most important weeds in agricultural crops in Mediterranean countries.