3-Dichloroacetyl oxazolidine protect maize from imazethapyr herbicide injury

Abstract

ABSTRACT 3-Dichloroacetyl oxazolidine protect maize from imazethapyr herbicide injury Li-Xia Zhao 1 , Hao Wu 1 , Ying Fu 1 , Yue-Li Zou 1 , and Fei Ye 1* RESEARCH 1 Northeast Agricultural University, College of Science, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, 150030, China. * Corresponding author (yefei@neau.edu.cn).Received: 9 September 2015.Accepted: 27 January 2016.doi:10.4067/S0718-58392016000200004 RESEARCH INTRODUCTION Imazethapyr .[( RS )-5-ethyl-2-(4-isopropyl-4-methyl-5-oxo-2-imidazolin-2-yl)nicotinic acid], an imidazolinone herbicide, was discovered in the 1980s. Imazethapyr controls weeds by inhibiting the activity of acetolactate synthase (ALS) which catalyzes the first step in the biosynthesis of valine, leucine and isoleucine (Maja and Branko, 2011). Imazethapyr has been used worldwide in weed control. As a consequence, phytotoxic effects to certain rotational crops were observed because of imazethapyr residue in cultivation soil and weed resistance to imazethapyr has developed into a more serious problem (Zhou et al., 2009; Pinto et al., 2009; Heap, 2014). Herbicide safeners are a group of synthetic compounds that could protect selected plants against herbicide injury without decreasing herbicidal activity to target weeds (Kraehmer et al., 2014). In 1947, Hoffman realized that safener was a useful tool to protect crop from herbicide injury. Nearly 20 safeners has subsequently been developed and commercialized by famous agrochemical companies (Jablonkai, 2013). While the exact mechanism of safener is still not completely understood, it seems that safeners could increase crop tolerance by inducing the activity of detoxifying enzyme glutathione