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Herbicide-resistant weeds in turfgrass: current status and emerging threats

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2020

James T. Brosnan*
Affiliation:
Professor, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
Matthew T. Elmore
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor, Department of Plant Biology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
Muthukumar V. Bagavathiannan
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
*
Author for correspondence: James Brosnan, University of Tennessee, 2505 EJ Chapman Drive, Knoxville, TN37996. Email: jbrosnan@utk.edu
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Abstract

Herbicide-resistant weeds pose a severe threat to sustainable vegetation management in various production systems worldwide. The majority of the herbicide resistance cases reported thus far originate from agronomic production systems where herbicide use is intensive, especially in industrialized countries. Another notable sector with heavy reliance on herbicides for weed control is managed turfgrass systems, particularly golf courses and athletic fields. Intensive use of herbicides, coupled with a lack of tillage and other mechanical tools that are options in agronomic systems, increases the risk of herbicide-resistant weeds evolving in managed turfgrass systems. Among the notable weed species at high risk for evolving resistance under managed turf systems in the United States are annual bluegrass, goosegrass, and crabgrasses. The evolution and spread of multiple herbicide resistance, an emerging threat facing the turfgrass industry, should be addressed with the use of diversified management tools. Target-site resistance has been reported commonly as a mechanism of resistance for many herbicide groups, though non–target site resistance is an emerging concern. Despite the anecdotal evidence of the mounting weed resistance issues in managed turf systems, the lack of systematic and periodic surveys at regional and national scales means that confirmed reports are very limited and sparse. Furthermore, currently available information is widely scattered in the literature. This review provides a concise summary of the current status of herbicide-resistant weeds in managed turfgrass systems in the United States and highlights key emerging threats.

Information

Type
Symposium
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
© Weed Science Society of America, 2020
Figure 0

Figure 1. Glyphosate-resistant annual bluegrass (Poa annua L.) infesting a dormant bermudagrass (Cynodon spp.) golf course fairway in Rockford, TN.

Figure 1

Figure 2. The transition zone region of the United States where glyphosate is applied to warm-season turfgrass species such as bermudagrass (Cynodon spp.) and zoysiagrass (Zoysia spp.) during winter dormancy. Image courtesy of Brandon Horvath, PhD.