The interaction between environment and genetic traits under selection is the basis of evolution. In this study, we have investigated the genetic basis of herbicide resistance in a highly characterized initially herbicide-susceptible Lolium rigidum population recurrently selected with low (below recommended label) doses of the herbicide diclofop-methyl. We report the variability in herbicide re...

Garlic mustard, an invasive exotic biennial herb, has been identified in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, but is not yet widely distributed. We tested the effectiveness and impact of management tools for garlic mustard in northern hardwood forests. Six treatment types (no treatment control, hand-pull, herbicide, hand-pull/herbicide, scorch, and hand-pull/scorch) were applied within a northern h...

Herbicide resistant crops are commercially advantageous for efficient field productivity by enabling use of nonselective herbicides for weed management. Herbicide resistant trees could be used to improve productivity and reduce the costs of forest management through to the first and second years post tree establishment. We describe the introduction of the phosphinothricin acetyltransferase (bar...

Methods for woody plant herbicide screening were assayed with the goal of reducing resources and time required to conduct preliminary screenings for new products. Rapid screening methods tested included greenhouse seedling screening, germinal screening, and seed screening. Triclopyr and eight experimental herbicides from Dow AgroSciences (DAS 313, 402, 534, 548, 602, 729, 779, and 896) were tes...

Genetic modification of crop plants has promoted concerns about potential environmental effects of this new technology. In this essay, I will discuss the environmental effects of genetic modification of crop plants using herbicide resistance as an example. Considering herbicide resistance as an old agricultural trait, it is difficult to find any reason to assess the environmental risks of genet...

Glyphosate is the number one herbicide in the world. We investigated the sub-lethal effects of this herbicide on the aphid Metopolophium dirhodum (Walker), using an age-stage, two-sex life table approach. Three concentrations of the herbicide (low - 33.5, medium - 66.9 and high - 133.8 mmol dm(-3) of active ingredient) and distilled water as the control were used. The LC50 of the IPA salt of gl...

Worldwide, herbicides remain the most efficient technology for large-scale weed control. Therefore, the widespread evolution of herbicide resistance in weed populations within intensive crop production systems is a major threat to the sustainability and profitability of cropping systems. The introduction of new herbicides and herbicide modes of action to replace those herbicides failing due to ...

Modern herbicidal weed control often exploits physiological differences among plants and takes advantage of herbicide tolerance or resistance in crop plants to bring about the selective removal of susceptible weeds. The Weed Science Society of America defines herbicide tolerance as “the inherent ability of a plant to survive and reproduce after herbicide treatment” which suggests that herbicide...

Herbicide use is increasing worldwide both in agriculture and private gardens. However, our knowledge of potential side-effects on non-target soil organisms, even on such eminent ones as earthworms, is still very scarce. In a greenhouse experiment, we assessed the impact of the most widely used glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup on two earthworm species with different feeding strategies. We dem...

We have witnessed a dramatic increase in the frequency and diversity of herbicide-resistant weed biotypes over the past two decades, which poses a threat to the sustainability of agriculture at both local and global levels. In addition, non-target-site mechanisms of herbicide resistance seem to be increasingly implicated. Non-target-site herbicide resistance normally involves the biochemical mo...