Identification of a herbicide-resistant biotype of Echinochloa crus-galli in Ukraine
Authors: Schwartau V. V. , Mykhalska L. M. , Makoveychuk T. I. , Tretiakov V. O. 
Published: November 2023

Ukraine is one of the world’s guarantors of food security and has the potential to further increase agricultural production. However, the vast majority of herbicides used on crops are acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitors, which poses a threat of herbicide-resistant weed species. The emergence and spread of herbicide-resistant weed biotypes can significantly increase the cost of growing crops to the point of loss of profitability. Herbicide resistance in barnyardgrass (Echinochloa crus-galli var. crus-galli) has been studied in long-term field and greenhouse experiments. Resistance of E. crus-galli to the ALS herbicide triazolopyrimidine derivative ‒ penoxsulam was identified. Expressed resistance was observed in weed plants grown from seeds collected under production conditions in Kherson region in 2015–2016 and 2020–2021. Cross resistance was observed for imidazolinone and sulfonylurea derivatives. It should be noted that the level of cross resistance to ALS herbicides was slightly higher for plants derived from weed seeds harvested in 2020–2021 compared to those harvested in 2015–2016. The introduction of a herbicidal composition of a herbicide mixture ‒ an inhibitor of 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD) (an enzyme in plants in the chain of carotenoid synthesis) ‒ mesotrione with an ALS-inhibitor (nicosulfuron) allowed effective control of the weed, which indicates the absence of multiple resistance to herbicides ‒ inhibitors of carotenoid synthesis. The high efficiency of E. crus-galli control was established by the application of herbicides ‒ inhibitors of fatty acid synthesis (graminicides). The highest level of efficiency in the experiments was observed with the application of fluazifop-butyl and somewhat less ‒ with pinoxaden. A tendency to reduce phytotoxicity to barnyardgrass from the south of Ukraine was observed with the introduction of tepraloxydim and quizalofop-ethyl. A lower level of phytotoxicity of fenoxaprop-p-ethyl on E. crus-galli should be noted compared to the effect of pinoxaden. No multiple resistance was observed with glyphosate (5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase inhibitor) and reglone (photosystem I inhibitor), allowing control of vegetative weeds at the beginning and end of the growing season. It has been established that monocot weed species have significantly increased their presence and harmfulness in agrophytocenoses in Ukraine and in the world since the 1950s with the widespread introduction of selective dicotyledonous species control with aryloxyphenoxyacetic, propionic and benzoic acid derivatives. This trend has been maintained until recently ‒ barnyardgrass is one of the dominant weed species in modern agrophytocenoses of Ukraine. Therefore, the identification of the ALS-resistant biotype of barnyardgrass complicates weed control in the following crops in rotations in the southern regions of the country: in maize crops with cross resistance to nicosulfuron, in sunflower ‒ to imidazolinones (imazamox, imazapyr), and also makes it impossible to use penoxsulam in rice production. Traditionally, the use of synthetic auxins, phenoxyacetic acid derivatives, etc. is used to control ALS-resistance. However, in Kherson region of Ukraine, already in the third year of application of rinskor (florpyrauxifen-benzyl), some weed plants were found on rice fields affected by ALS-resistant barnyardgrass, which recovered after the use of synthetic auxin. Therefore, the control of ALS-resistance (penoxsulam, etc.) in E. crus-galli with the application florpyrauxifen-benzyl in the Kherson region of Ukraine is already limited. An obvious and economically feasible preventive measure against the emergence of resistant weed biotypes is the implementation of GAP (Good Agricultural Practice, FAO) approaches: in particular, the use of high quality seeds without weed impurities, increasing the proportion of agrotechnical weed control measures, restoring and expanding crop rotations with mandatory rotation of herbicides with different modes of action, introducing dicotyledonous/leguminous crops into rotations, and using herbicides with different modes of action in crops separately or in mixtures. At the same time, agrotechnical measures and the preservation of biodiversity in agrophytocenoses should be the main factor in controlling resistance in weeds. The use of herbicides and their mixtures with different modes of action is of secondary importance. The identification of highly damaging ALS-resistant E. crus-galli in southern Ukraine indicates the insufficient effectiveness of weed control exclusively with herbicides with a single mechanism of action and requires a significant revision of the principles of crop rotation and ways of weed control in the country to maintain high levels of profitability and productivity of agrophytocenoses. Solving this problem is urgent for the preservation of Ukraine's potential as one of the guarantors of global food security.