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Lessons Learned From the History of HerbicideResistance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Dale L. Shaner
Dale L. Shaner*
Affiliation:
Water Management Research, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Northern Plains Area, Fort Collins, CO 80526
*
Corresponding author's E-mail: dlshaner37@gmail.com
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Abstract

The selection of herbicide-resistant weed populations began with theintroduction of synthetic herbicides in the late 1940s. For the first 20years after introduction, there were limited reported cases ofherbicide-resistant weeds. This changed in 1968 with the discovery oftriazine-resistant common groundsel. Over the next 15 yr, the cases ofherbicide-resistant weeds increased, primarily to triazine herbicides.Although triazine resistance was widespread, the resistant biotypes werehighly unfit and were easily controlled with specific alternativeherbicides. Weed scientists presumed that this would be the case for futureherbicide-resistant cases and thus there was not much concern, although thecompanies affected by triazine resistance were somewhat active in trying todetect and manage resistance. It was not until the late 1980s with thediscovery of resistance to Acetyl Co-A carboxylase (ACCase) and acetolactatesynthase (ALS) inhibitors that herbicide resistance attracted much moreattention, particularly from industry. The rapid evolution of resistance tothese classes of herbicides affected many companies, who responded by firstestablishing working groups to address resistance to specific classes ofherbicides, and then by formation of the Herbicide Resistance ActionCommittee (HRAC). The goal of these groups, in cooperation with academia andgovernmental agencies, was to act as a forum for the exchange of informationon herbicide-resistance selection and to develop guidelines for managingresistance. Despite these efforts, herbicide resistance continued toincrease. The introduction of glyphosate-resistant crops in the 1995provided a brief respite from herbicide resistance, and farmers rapidlyadopted this relatively simple and reliable weed management system based onglyphosate. There were many warnings from academia and some companies thatthe glyphosate-resistant crop system was not sustainable, but this advicewas not heeded. The selection of glyphosate resistant weeds dramaticallychanged weed management and renewed emphasis on herbicide resistancemanagement. To date, the lesson learned from our experience with herbicideresistance is that no herbicide is invulnerable to selecting for resistantbiotypes, and that over-reliance on a weed management system based solely onherbicides is not sustainable. Hopefully we have learned that a diverse weedmanagement program that combines multiple methods is the only system thatwill work for the long term.

Keywords

Atrazineglyphosateimazethapyrparaquatsimazine2,4-Dcommon groundsel, Senecio vulgaris L.giant ragweed, Ambrosia trifida L.goosegrass, Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn.horseweed, Conyza canadensis (L.) Cronq.johnsongrass, Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers.common lambsquarters, Chenopodium album L.Palmer amaranth, Amaranthus palmeri S. Wats.rigid ryegrass, Lolium rigidum Gaudin.waterhemp, Amaranthus tuberculatus (Moq.) Sauer.wild carrot, Daucus carota L.Herbicide-resistanceweed management

Information

Type
Symposium
Information
Weed Science , Volume 62 , Issue 2 , June 2014 , pp. 427 - 431
Copyright
Copyright © Weed Science Society of America 

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References

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