Current Challenges and New Tools to Combat Herbicide Resistant Weeds
University of Illinois professor of molecular weed science Patrick Tranel and assistant Nick Hausman have observed increasing incidence of herbicide-resistant weeds in Illinois. They rationalized that initial success in the use of glyphosate-resistant crops caused many weed-management practitioners to stop worrying and practicing other weed management tools. Hence, the increased occurrence of glyphosate resistance has caused those concerns to be revived and researched to find new weed management tools to be revitalized.
Most technology developers have upcoming new herbicide resistant crops and technologies that can be used as alternatives/substitutes when confronted with herbicide resistance problem in weeds. Dr. Tranel warned that similar to conventional crop technology, regardless of how novel the technology is, it will not be immune to resistance evolution.
"One of the things we learned from the Roundup Ready era is how to overuse something that seemingly is almost too good to be true," Dr. Tranel said. "If and when we begin adopting new weed-control options, we must not forget this lesson. Any weed-control option must be used wisely and judiciously, and as just one component of an integrated weed management strategy, if its effectiveness is to be preserved."
Their paper will be presented during the 56th annual Agronomy Day at the University of Illinois on August 16.
For more on the challenges and new tools, see the article at http://cropsci.illinois.edu/news/herbicide-resistant-weeds-current-challenges-new-tools.
This article is part of the Crop Biotech Update, a weekly summary of world developments in agri-biotech for developing countries, produced by the Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology, International Service for the Aquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications SEAsiaCenter (ISAAA)
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