Oxabetrinil Reversal of Metolachlor and Acid Soil Stress
Abstract Metolachlor and excess Mn2+ (acid soil stress) induce alterations in gibberellin precursor biosynthesis that can explain the morphological responses to these physiological stresses. Oxabetrinil protects sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] from the influence of metolachlor and excess Mn2+. Sorghum cultivar variations in response to excess Mn2+ are explicable as differential rates of ent-kaurene biosynthesis between acid soil sensitive and tolerant cultivars. Concentrations of Mn2+ present in vegetative leaves and reproductive stem tissues were not different. Therefore, cultivar differences in ent-kaurene biosynthesis explain the acid soil tolerance differences rather than differential Mn2+ absorption, translocation, and/or compartmentation. Metolachlor and safener responses are found in cellular compartments and tissues that do not match a decreased herbicide concentration through absorption, transport, or degradation as a sole mode of action for safeners.