Changes in the herbicide sensitivity and competitive ability of Abutilon theophrasti over 28 years: Implications for hormesis and weed evolution

BACKGROUND

The potential of weed species to respond to selection forces affecting the evolution of weedy traits such as competitive ability is poorly understood. This research characterized evolutionary growth changes in a single Abutilon theophrasti Medik. population comparing multiple generations collected from 1988 to 2016. A competition study was performed to understand changes in competitive ability, and a herbicide dose–response study was carried out to assess changes in sensitivity to acetolactate synthase-inhibiting herbicides and glyphosate over time.

RESULTS

When grown in monoculture, A. theophrasti biomass production per plant increased steadily across year-lines while leaf number decreased. In replacement experiments, A. theophrasti plants from newer year-lines were more competitive and produced more biomass and leaf area than the oldest year-line. No clear differences in sensitivity to imazamox were observed among year-lines. However, starting in 1995, this A. theophrasti population exhibited a progressive increase in growth in response to a sublethal dose of glyphosate (52 g a.e. ha⁻¹), with the 2009 and 2016 year-lines having more than 50% higher biomass than the nontreated control.

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrates that weeds can rapidly evolve increased competitive ability. Furthermore, the results indicate the possibility of changes in glyphosate hormesis over time. These results highlight the importance of the role that rapid (i.e., subdecadal) evolution of growth traits might have on the sustainability of weed management strategies. © 2023 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.     

Detection of Ecballium elaterium in hedgerow olive orchards using a low-cost uncrewed aerial vehicle and open-source algorithms

BACKGROUND

Ecballium elaterium (common name: squirting cucumber) is an emerging weed problem in hedgerow or superintensive olive groves under no tillage. It colonizes the inter-row area infesting the natural or sown cover crops, and is considered a hard-to-control weed. Research in other woody crops has shown E. elaterium has a patchy distribution, which makes this weed susceptible to design a site-specific control strategy only addressed to E. elaterium patches. Therefore, the aim of this work was to develop a methodology based on the analysis of imagery acquired with an uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) to detect and map E. elaterium infestations in hedgerow olive orchards.

RESULTS

The study was conducted in two superintensive olive orchards, and the images were taken using a UAV equipped with an RGB sensor. Flights were conducted on two dates: in May, when there were various weeds infesting the orchard, and in September, when E. elaterium was the only infesting weed. UAV-orthomosaics in the first scenario were classified using random forest models, and the orthomosaics from September with E. elaterium as the only weed, were analyzed using an unsupervised algorithm. In both cases, the overall accuracies were over 0.85, and the producer's accuracies for E. elaterium ranged between 0.74 and 1.00.

CONCLUSION

These results allow the design of a site-specific and efficient herbicide control protocol which would represent a step forward in sustainable weed management. The development of these algorithms in free and open-source software fosters their application in small and medium farms. © 2022 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.     

Evaluation of finger weeder safety and efficacy for intra-row weed removal in irrigated field crops

Increased demand for pesticide-free food and the development of herbicide-resistant weed populations have created a need for non-chemical weed-control tools. A candidate mechanical tool for controlling weeds in the seeding line (intra-row zone) is the finger weeder. This study thus aimed to evaluate the safety and weed-control efficacy of the finger weeder in various irrigated field crops. Eight field trials were conducted in processing tomato, sweet corn, sunflower, cotton, and beetroot over 2 years. The finger weeder treatments were applied as the sole weed-control method (single or double treatments) and in combination with herbicides. A mini meta-analysis was used to evaluate the overall effect of the finger weeder treatments on crop stand and yield and on weed control efficacy. Weed density in the control not treated with herbicides nor a finger weeder ranged between 2 and 62 weeds m⁻². The finger weeder treatments resulted in a significant reduction in weed density, which ranged between 40% and 90%. The weed density following the double finger weeder treatment was not significantly different from that for the conventional herbicide-based treatment (p = 0.32) and could therefore be considered as an effective environmentally friendly alternative. Furthermore, a single FW treatment integrated with herbicide application gave better weed control than the conventional herbicide treatment (p = 0.04). This treatment was safe for the crops with no significant stand (p = 0.19) or yield (p = 0.29) reductions compared to commercial treatment. The results of this study demonstrate the promise of the finger weeder as an effective tool within integrated weed management systems for conventional agro-systems. The tool offers a rational weed-control solution for sustainable systems under irrigation.     

Salvinia plants in trade: what species are we actually talking about?

Incorrect labelling of plants in trade and misidentification are widespread. Likewise, in trade numerous names are being used for the ornamental aquatic plant known as ‘Kariba weed’, but rarely the correct scientific name Salvinia molesta Mitch. For inspection services of EPPO member countries, correct identification of S. molesta has become important since the species was added to the EPPO A2 List and the List of Union concern in accordance with EU regulation 1143/2014 based on an EPPO Pest Risk Analysis (PRA) for the species. Inspections and a targetted survey of Salvinia plants in trade in the Netherlands were performed and additional material was obtained from wild sources in South Africa, Hungary and the United States. Specimen identification was verified by comparison with the herbarium collection at Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden and with the sequences available in NCBI GenBank database. This paper provides the tools to correctly identity the relevant Salvinia species.     

二氯喹啉草酮与二氯喹啉酸的除草活性及对水稻安全性的比较

采用整株生物测定法测定两种除草剂二氯喹啉草酮与二氯喹啉酸茎叶处理对水稻田杂草的生物活性及对水稻的安全性。结果表明:当二氯喹啉草酮和二氯喹啉酸有效成分剂量均为600 g/hm2时, 两种除草剂对稗属杂草、鳢肠的鲜重抑制率均高于94%, 其GR90为107.35~558.58 g/hm2; 对马唐和耳叶水苋的鲜重抑制率低于85%, 对抗二氯喹啉酸西来稗和千金子的鲜重抑制率低于50%; 不同的是二氯喹啉草酮对丁香蓼和异型莎草的鲜重抑制率分别为92.17%、94.33%, 均显著高于二氯喹啉酸(83.64%, 85.57%)。二氯喹啉草酮和二氯喹啉酸对1.5叶期水稻安全性差, 选择性指数为2.53~3.58; 对3.5叶期水稻安全, 选择性指数大于4, 各处理水稻鲜重与对照组之间无显著差异。本着高效、安全、经济的原则, 不推荐二氯喹啉草酮用于防除水稻田禾本科杂草, 仅对部分阔叶类和莎草科杂草发生严重的水稻田, 二氯喹啉草酮可以作为补充除草剂。     

2022年上海市稻田杂草大发生原因剖析及对策建议

在对稻田杂草发生危害长期跟踪监测和调查走访的基础上, 从主观?客观和管理层面的10个方面, 对2022年上海市稻田杂草大发生原因进行了剖析, 并针对当前稻田杂草防除中存在的问题, 从政策引导?技术支撑?组织管理等方面提出了对策建议?     

土壤日晒在绿色植保中的应用与展望

土壤消毒主要用于土壤病虫草害防控。过去几十年,土壤主要采用化学药品熏蒸消毒,不合理使用容易造成环境污染。土壤蒸汽消毒、火焰消毒和热水浇灌等需要专门的仪器设备,且存在能耗较高、灭生性强、容易破坏土壤结构等缺点。目前,土壤日晒技术受到意大利、美国、以色列等70多个国家农业科学家的广泛关注,但在中国依然处于初级阶段。本文总结了国内外学者关于土壤日晒对农业病虫草害、土壤肥力、农作物产量等方面的影响与应用,分析了土壤日晒存在的局限性,并对土壤日晒在未来农业绿色防控上的应用前景进行了展望,以期为农产品无公害生产提供理论依据和实践参考。     

Performance of Bangladesh indigenous rice in a weed infested field and separation of allelopathy from resource competition

This study aimed to identify the potential allelopathic indigenous rice (Oryza sativa L. ssp. indica) varieties from Bangladesh using a performance study in a weed‐infested field and to assess the extent of allelopathic interference relative to resource competition in a glasshouse experiment. Six varieties – namely, “Boterswar,” “Goria,” “Biron” and “Kartiksail” as the most allelopathic, “Hashikolmi” as weakly allelopathic and “Holoi” as nonallelopathic – were raised following a nonweed control method. The infestation levels of weed species were calculated using Simpson's Diversity Index (SDI), which ranged from 0.2 to 0.56. However, a significant correlation coefficient (0.87, P < 0.001) was obtained from these field data compared with the root inhibition percentage from the laboratory bioassay, and the “Boterswar” variety was the most allelopathic. The interactions between the allelopathic variety “Boterswar,” weakly allelopathic variety “Hashikolmi” and Echinochloa oryzicola via a target (rice)‐adjacent (E. oryzicola) cogrowth culture were determined in a hydroponic arrangement. The relative competitive intensity (RCI) and the relative neighbor effect (RNE) values showed that the crop–weed interaction was facilitation for “Boterswar” and competition for “Hashikolmi” and E. oryzicola in rice/E. oryzicola cogrowth cultures. The allelopathic effects of “Boterswar” were much higher than the resource competition in rice/E. oryzicola cogrowth cultures. The converse was observed for “Hashikolmi.” Moreover, the mineral content of E. oryzicola was severely affected by “Boterswar”/E. oryzicola cogrowth cultures’ exudate solution. Therefore, the allelopathic potential of “Boterswar” variety might be useful for developing the weed‐suppressing capacity of rice, which will likely have a significant influence on paddy weed control.