SENSITIVITY OF MORNINGGLORY PLANTS AND THEIR PROGENIES TO GLUFOSINATE AMMONIUM

ABSTRACT The sensitivity of weed species to herbicides is variable, and the behavior can be repeated or not in the next generation. The objective of this study was to evaluate the response of morningglory plants to different doses of glufosinate ammonium and the sensitivity of plant populations and their progenies to the herbicide. Three studies were conducted, all in a greenhouse and repeated in two periods. In the first study, two experiments were conducted to examine the dose-response curve, and the treatments were seven different doses of the herbicide glufosinate ammonium (0, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1,600 g a.i. ha-1), with four replications each. In the second study, which examined the range in sensitivity of morningglory to glufosinate ammonium, 44 plants were sprayed with a dose of 200 g a.i. ha-1 of the herbicide. Finally, in the third study, the range in sensitivity of morningglory progenies to glufosinate ammonium was investigated; in this experiment, the progenies of seven of the previous plants were sprayed with 200 g a.i. ha-1 of herbicide. The ammonium contents in the tissues were measured, and percent injury were visually assessed. Ammonium content in morningglory leaves was increased more than seven times by glufosinate application and the maximum ammonium content was observed for the highest herbicide dose. Variability existed in the ammonium content among the individuals of the morningglory population; however, the behavior was not replicated in the same way in progenies. Plants survival after herbicide application allows the production of progenies with wide variability in their sensitivity to the product, regardless of the behavior verified in progenitor plants.