Root exudates alter the rhizosphere's physical properties, but the impact that these changes have on solute transport is unknown. In this study, we tested the effects of chia mucilage and wheat root exudates (WREs) on the transport of iodide and potassium in saturated or unsaturated soil. Saturated solute breakthrough experiments, conducted in loamy sand soil or coarser textured quartz sand, revealed that increasing the exudate concentration in soil resulted in non‐equilibrium solute transport. This behavior was demonstrated by an initial solute breakthrough after fewer pore volumes (PVs) and the arrival of the peak solute concentration after greater PVs in soil mixed with exudates compared to soil without exudates. These patterns were more pronounced for the coarser textured quartz sand than for the loamy sand soil, and in soil mixed with mucilage than in soil mixed WREs. Parameter fits to these breakthrough curves with a mobile‐immobile transport model indicated the fraction of immobile water increased as the concentration of exudates increased. For example, in quartz sand the estimated immobile fraction increased from 0 without exudates to 0.75 at a mucilage concentration of 0.2%. The solutes' breakthrough under unsaturated conditions was also altered by the exudates, demonstrated by a smaller volume of water extracted from soil mixed with exudates, compared to soil without exudates, before the arrival of the peak solute concentration. The results indicate that exudates alter the rhizosphere's transport properties; we hypothesize that this is due to exudates creating low‐conducting flow paths that result in a physical non‐equilibrium solute transport.

Accelerated microbial degradation following previous repeated applications of the same pesticide, or another pesticide of a similar chemical structure, is a known phenomenon. Currently there is limited information regarding accelerated degradation of sulfonylurea (SU) herbicides. This study is aimed to evaluate the effect of repeated SU applications on the degradation rate of the SU herbicide sulfosulfuron in soil. The effect of repeated applications of sulfosulfuron on its degradation was assessed in two soils, using a sorghum root elongation bioassay. The effect of consecutive applications of sulfonylurea herbicides over the course of three to four seasons was further examined in controlled environment and a field study. Degradation of sulfosulfuron was determined following its application to soil samples from the field or a controlled environment, by measuring sulfosulfuron residues using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Following the repeated application of sulfosulfuron in the bioassay, the time to reduce sorghum root growth by 50% was shortened by up to 31.6%. However, consecutive application of SUs in the controlled environment had no effect on sulfosulfuron degradation rate constant. Yet, sulfosulfuron degradation rate was enhanced by a factor of 1.35 following consecutive application of SUs in the field, compared to untreated control soil. The data confirm that sulfosulfuron degradation could be enhanced due to repeated sulfosulfuron applications, thus potentially reducing its herbicidal efficacy.

Egyptian broomrape (Phelipanche aegyptiacaPers.) is a root-parasitic weed that severely damages many crops worldwide, including tomato (Solanum lycopersicumL.). In Israel, the management protocol used forP. aegyptiacain open-field tomato includes PPI sulfosulfuron at 37.5 g ai ha⁻¹to the top 10-cm soil layer. The objective of this study was to investigate the co-effect of sulfosulfuron application timing and variable degradation rate in soil on the control efficacy ofP. aegyptiacain tomato. Degradation of sulfosulfuron (80ng g⁻¹soil) at a temperature of 15C, measured in soil samples from three farms using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry, followed a first-order kinetics with variable degradation rate constant among sites (0.008 to 0.012 d⁻¹). Incubation at 25 C increased sulfosulfuron degradation rate constant by a factor of 2 to 2.7 in soils from the different sites, with a similar degradation rate order among soils. A higher degradation rate in the soil resulted in a shorter period of residual activity, measured using a sorghum [Sorghum bicolor(L.) Moench.] bioassay.Phelipanche aegyptiacamanagement in open-field tomatoes was investigated in five independent field experiments. Sulfosulfuron soil concentration throughout the growing season (following preplant incorporation of 37.5 g ha⁻¹) was calculated from laboratory-measured degradation rates, which were corrected to represent the effect of recorded temperatures at each field. At the end of the tomato growing season, control efficacy ofP. aegyptiacavaried among experiments (70.4% to 100%) and positively correlated with predicted sulfosulfuron concentration at the critical period for seedling control (R²=0.67). The current study confirms that sulfosulfuron is degraded in soil to nonphytotoxic metabolites and that rapid degradation rates would result in reduced injury toP. aegyptiacaseedling and, consequently, lower control efficacy.

Parasitic plants belonging to the Orobanchaceae family include species that cause heavy damage to crops in Mediterranean climate regions. Phelipanche aegyptiaca is the most common of the Orobanchaceae species in Israel inflicting heavy damage to a wide range of broadleaf crops, including processing tomatoes. P. aegyptiaca is extremely difficult to control due to its minute and vast number of seeds and its underground association with host plant roots. The highly efficient attachment of the parasite haustoria into the host phloem and xylem enables the diversion of water, assimilates and minerals from the host into the parasite. Drip irrigation is the most common method of irrigation in processing tomatoes in Israel, but the delivery of herbicides via drip irrigation systems (herbigation) has not been thoroughly studied. The aim of these studies was to test, under laboratory and greenhouse conditions, the factors involved in the behavior of soil-herbigated imazapic, and the consequential influence of imazapic on P. aegyptiaca and tomato plants. Dose-response Petri dish studies showed that imazapic does not impede P. aegyptiaca seed germination and non-attached seedlings, even at the high rate of 5000 ppb. Imazapic applied to tomato roots inoculated with P. aegyptiaca seeds in a PE bag system revealed that the parasite is killed only after its attachment to the tomato roots, at concentrations as low as 2.5 ppb. Imazapic sorption curves and calculated Kd and Koc values indicated that the herbicide Kd is similar in all soils excluding a two-fold higher coefficient in the Gadash farm soil, while the Koc was similar in all soils except the Eden farm soil, in which it was more than twofold lower. In greenhouse studies, control of P. aegyptiaca was achieved at >2.5 ppb imazapic, but adequate control requires repeated applications due to the 7-day half-life (t_1/2) of the herbicide in the soil. Tracking of imazapic in soil and tomato roots revealed that the herbicide accumulates in the tomato host plant roots, but its movement to newly formed roots is limited. The data obtained in the laboratory and greenhouse studies provide invaluable knowledge for devising field imazapic application strategies via drip irrigation systems for efficient and selective broomrape control.