Revisiting dose-response: concepts of hormesis, toxicological thresholds and data analysis

Abstract

Several publications and web-based tools are available in weed science literature to help weed scientists to carry out basic analysis of dose-response studies. Given the nature of the complicated relationship between the explanatory variable (dose as x-axis) evaluated against response variables of interest (y-axis), using regression curves should be the preferred method for handling data analysis. The objective of this manuscript is to provide user-friendly instructions for conducting and analyzing several types of dose-response studies that were lacking in current weed science literature. A better understanding of less commonly used concepts of hormesis and toxicological safety thresholds (no-observable-adverse-effect-level [NOAEL] and lowest-observable-adverse-effect-level [LOAEL]) is needed to help address the potential risks and benefits associated with herbicide use while minimizing environmental impacts. Basic codes available in cost-free R software are provided for data analysis and to foster collaboration among weed scientists.