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Herbicide Toxicity Testing with Non-Target Boreal Plants: The Sensitivity of Achillea millefolium L. and Chamerion angustifolium L. to Triclopyr and Imazapyr

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Abstract

Terrestrial plant toxicity tests were conducted to determine the sensitivity of two boreal plants, yarrow (Achillea millefolium L.) and fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium L.), to the herbicides imazapyr and triclopyr. Both plants are common non-target species on northern powerline rights-of-way where the impacts of proposed herbicide applications are of concern. In the vegetative vigour test, triclopyr foliar spray caused extensive damage to A. millefolium at <50% of the maximum field application rate (inhibition concentration (IC)50 = 1443.8 g a.i. ha−1) and was lethal to C. angustifolium at the lowest dose tested (1210.9 g a.i. ha−1). Both species demonstrated extremely high sensitivity to imazapyr foliar spray: IC50s = 8.29 g a.i. ha−1 and 4.82 g a.i. ha−1 (<1.5% of the maximum field rate). The seedling emergence and seedling growth tests were conducted in the organic horizon of five boreal soils. Few differences in herbicide bioavailability between soils were detected. Triclopyr limited growth of A. millefolium, C. angustifolium and standard test species Calamagrostis canadensis at low levels (most IC50 estimates between 2–20 µg g−1). For imazapyr, IC50 estimates could not be calculated as there was >75% inhibition of endpoints at the lowest doses of ~2 µg g−1. A foliar application of triclopyr or imazapyr for woody species control would likely cause significant damage to boreal non-target plants. The high sensitivity of both species to herbicide residues in soil indicates long term impacts are dependent on herbicide degradation rates in northern conditions. A. millefolium performed well and is recommended for use in toxicity testing relevant to boreal regions.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the two anonymous reviewers who provided insightful and constructive comments that greatly improved earlier versions of this manuscript. We wish to thank both partners on the project—Yukon Energy Corporation and Environmental Dynamics Inc. for their financial support and in-kind contributions. We thank Amy Jimmo for her guidance on toxicity testing methods and assistance with determining soil characteristics. Without the support of Denise Gordon, fireweed experiments would not have been possible. We are also grateful to Aaron Roberge, Alex Mischler, Kirstin Damude, and Patrick Soprovich for their assistance in the laboratory, greenhouse and field. We thank the Alaska Plant Materials Center and BrettYoung for donating seed for the experiments. Additional funding was provided through a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada ARD grant, the Yukon College Research Fund and an Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies scholarship awarded to K. Isbister. The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 51 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, S7N 5A8, SK, Canada

    Krystal M. Isbister & Eric G. Lamb

  2. Department of Soil Science, University of Saskatchewan, 51 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, S7N 5A8, SK, Canada

    Katherine J. Stewart

  3. Yukon Research Centre, Yukon College, 500 College Drive, Whitehorse, Y1A 5K4, YT, Canada

    Katherine J. Stewart

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  1. Krystal M. Isbister
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Correspondence to Katherine J. Stewart.

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Appendices

Appendix 1

A list of species-herbicide-soil-dose combinations and seedling growth tests is shown in Table 5

Table 5 A complete list of species-herbicide-soil-dose combinations used in definitive vegetative vigour and seedling emergence and seedling growth tests used to determine the sensitivity of Achillea millefolium and Chamerion angustifolium to triclopyr and imazapyr. Calamagrostis canadensis was also included in the seedling emergence and seedling growth tests as a standard test species for boreal soils
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Appendix 2

Dose response curve model parameters and inhibition concentration estimates are shown in Table 6

Table 6 Dose response curve model parameters and inhibition concentration estimates for the 28 day seedling emergence and seedling growth tests determining the toxicity of triclopyr in five northern soils to Achillea millefolium (ACHIMI), Calamagrostis canadensis (CALACA) and Chamerion angustifolium (CHAMAN)
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Isbister, K.M., Lamb, E.G. & Stewart, K.J. Herbicide Toxicity Testing with Non-Target Boreal Plants: The Sensitivity of Achillea millefolium L. and Chamerion angustifolium L. to Triclopyr and Imazapyr. Environmental Management 60, 136–156 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-017-0867-7

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