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An-assay was developed to determine the level of resistance to the herbicide glyphosate in trangenic seedlings of lettuce. Results of the seedling assay were correlated to results of a similar assay using callus lines of the identical transgenic plants. Transgenic plants were found to be a 32-fold increase in tolerance to glyphosate when compared to wild type plants. This was similar to the response of these transgenic lines in the callus line assay.
Glyphosate-resistant plants of `South Bay' lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) were produced by using Agrobacterium tumefaciens containing a plasmid carrying glyphosate oxidase and EPSPS gene. An in vitro assay was performed to determine the sensitivity of `South Bay' leaf discs and seedling explants to varying glyphosate concentrations. The I50 for glyphosate leaf discs was 53.8 μm and for glyphosate seedlings 7.6 μm. There was a high correlation between the response of leaf discs and seedlings to glyphosate based on dry weight. These findings will allow identification of glyphosate-resistant transformants in an early stage of plant development, saving time and reducing the cost in generating an improved cultivar with the glyphosate resistance trait.
Field trials were conducted in Gainesville, Fla., to determine the influence of nitrogen fertilization on the interference effect of purple or yellow nutsedge on the yield of fresh tomato. Nitrogen (N) rates of 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, and 350 kg·ha–1 were applied broadcast to the soil. Before transplanting, 1-m-wide soil beds were covered with plastic and fumigated with methyl bromide to suppress the growth on undesired weeds. Nutsedge-free and purple or yellow nutsedge-infested tomato plots were separately established. `Solar Set' tomatoes were transplanted in the middle of the soil beds, 50 cm apart in a single row. In nutsedge-infested plots, weed densities known to cause significant yield reduction in tomato (100 purple nutsedge plants/m2 and 50 yellow nutsedge plants/m2) were uniformly established perforating the plastic and transplanting viable tubers in the perforations. Purple and yellow nutsedge tubers were transplanted the same day as tomatoes and were allowed to interfere during the whole crop season. Results indicate that N rates had a significant effect on tomato fruit yield in both nutsedge-free and nutsedge-infested treatments. The presence of either purple or yellow nutsedge significantly reduced the fruit yield of tomato at all N rates. As N rates increased, tomato fruit yield reduction caused by the interference of either nutsedge species also increased. When yellow nutsedge was allowed to interfere with tomato, fruit yield loss was as low as 18% at 50 kg N/ha and as high as 42% at 350 kg N/ha. In purple nutsedge-infested tomato, fruit yield reductions ranged from 10% at 50 kg N/ha to 27% at 350 kg N/ha. N effects on nutsedge-free and nutsedge-infested tomato yields were described by quadratic equations, with maximum tomato fruit yield values being reached between 200 and 250 kg N/ha in both nutsedge-free and nutsedge-infested treatments.