Characteristics and control of dicamba‐resistant common lambsquarters (Chenopodium album)

Abstract

The expansion of atrazine‐resistant Chenopodium album (common lambsquarters) since the 1980s has forced New Zealand's maize‐growers to use an additional postemergence herbicide application. The frequent use of dicamba for this has selected for a common lambsquarters population with reduced sensitivity to dicamba. Initial greenhouse experiments with seeds that had been collected from the plants that survived field applications of dicamba showed that these plants could tolerate ≤1.2 kg ha−1, fourfold the recommended rate. These dicamba‐resistant plants were morphologically distinct from the susceptible population. The leaves of the resistant plants were less dentate and a lighter shade of green. The resistant plants were shorter, had a lower biomass and growth rate and flowered ≤19 days earlier than the susceptible plants. When grown together in various density ratios, the average biomass of both the susceptible and the resistant plants increased as the number of susceptible plants decreased in the mixture. The field experiments demonstrated that the resistant population tolerated dicamba at ≤2.4 kg ha−1, eightfold the recommended rate. Postemergence applications of bromoxynil, pyridate, nicosulfuron and mesotrione effectively controlled both populations. Nicosulfuron and mesotrione provided long‐term residual control, with nicosulfuron being more effective on the grass weeds. High rates of dicamba damaged the maize plants, resulting in an increased weed cover and reduced grain yield. The number of viable common lambsquarters seeds in the soil seed bank at the end of the growing season declined in the treatments in which common lambsquarters was controlled effectively.