Metabolism of prosulfocarb and trifluralin was investigated in L. rigidum populations with different levels of resistance to prosulfocarb, trifluralin and also pyroxasulfone, which is detoxified by glutathione (GSH) conjugation.
Lolium rigidum is the most important weed in Australian agriculture and the pre-emergence dinitroaniline herbicides (e.g. trifluralin) are widely and persistently used for Lolium control. Consequently, resistance evolution to dinitroaniline herbicides has been increasingly reported. Resistance-endowing target-site 𝛼-tubulin gene mutations are identified with varying frequencies. The present study investigated the putative fitness cost associated with the common resistance mutation Val-202-Phe, and the rare resistance mutation of Arg-243-Met causing helical plant growth.
Lolium rigidum (annual ryegrass) is a species that is prone to evolve resistance to a wide range of herbicide modes of action. Rapid detection of herbicide-resistant weed populations in the field can aid farmers to optimise the use of effective herbicides for their control.
AHRI researchers have show in this report that a single P450 gene in a cross-pollinated weed species L. rigidum confers resistance to herbicides of at least five modes of action across seven herbicide chemistries.
This study provides evidence that trait(s) enabling efficient trifluralin metabolism in Lolium rigidum are purged from the population under prosulfocarb recurrent selection.
It is speculated that survival to prosulfocarb via a lack of metabolic herbicide activation, and survival to trifluralin conferred by enhanced herbicide metabolism, are mutually exclusive.
The increasing number of weedy species resistant to dinitroaniline herbicides warrants studies on the evolutionary factors contributing to resistance evolution, including genetic inheritance of resistance traits.
In this study, the researchers investigated the genetic control of trifluralin resistance in a well-characterised Lolium rigidum Gaud. (annual ryegrass) population from Western Australia. This population was purified to contain plants homozygous for the Val-202-Phe α-tubulin mutation, and used as the resistant (R) parents and crossed with susceptible (S) parents to produce eight reciprocal F1 families.
No-tillage with stubble retention is a widely used cropping system for its conservation and yield benefits. The no-tillage farming system in southern Australia relies heavily on herbicides for weed management, but heavy crop residues may have a negative impact on the activity of pre-emergent herbicides applied.
Lolium rigidum (annual or rigid ryegrass) is a widespread annual weed in cropping systems of southern Australia, and herbicide resistance in L. rigidum is a common problem in this region. In 2010, a random survey was conducted across the grain belt of Western Australia to determine the frequency of herbicide-resistant L. rigidum populations and to compare this with the results of previous surveys in 1998 and 2003.
The widespread evolution of resistance in rigid ryegrass populations to the highly effective, in-crop, selective herbicides used within southern Australian grain-crop production systems has severely diminished the available herbicide resource.